W.   D.   HENKLE. 

^  a  t<  .    /  ^  y 

/ 


CF  THE 
UWiVERSTY 


J 


LECTURES 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  GLOBE  — A  UNIVERSAL  DELUGE  — THE 

DESTRUCTION  AND  RE-FORMATION  OF  OUR 

SOLAR  SYSTEM, 

>  ^  ^  *"' 

THE 

ESSENTIAL  ELEMENTS  OF  CREATED  PRINCIPLES, 

AND  THE 

ELECTRIC  PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT,  HEAT,  &c. 


BY  GEORGE  BREWSTER, 

Author  of  Lectures  upon  Education —  A  New  Philosophy  of  Matter,  &c. 


COLUMBUS  I 
PRINTED  BY  SCOTT  AND  BASCOM. 

1850. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  fifty,  by  GEORGE  BREWSTER,  in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Ohio 


$17 


PREFACE. 

THE  train  of  thought,  which  led  to  the  pro- 
duction of  the  first  five  lectures  of  the  follow- 
ing series,  was  suggested  by  a  discussion,  some 
two  or  three  years  since,  with  a  Swedenbor- 
gian.  The  circumstances,  which  led  to  that 
discussion,  were  these :  Being  then  the  editor 
of  a  paper,  and  having  made  a  remark  edito- 
rially with  regard  to  some  of  the  opinions  of 
a  certain  lecturer,  upon  the  Swedenborgian  no- 
tions of  Genesis  ;  he  became  offended  at  my 
dissent  from  those  opinions,  and  sent  me  a 
challenge  to  debate  the  question  with  him. 
Having  made  it  one  invariable  rule  of  my  life 
never  to  shrink  from  the  responsibility  of  de- 
fending ideas,  which  I  may  have  advanced 
upon  any  subject,  I,  consequently,  accepted  the 
challenge.  In  the  course  of  the  argument,  I 
was  surprised  at  the  strong  infidel  tendency 

M370423 


IV  PREFACE. 

of  his  opinions,  which  tendency  became  more 
and  more  clearly  manifest,  the  further  the  dis- 
cussion proceeded. 

In  combatting,  for  instance,  opinions,  which 
I  advanced,  respecting  the  conflagration  and 
disappearance  of  stars,  and  the  creation  of  new 
ones,  he  quoted  Swedenborg,  as  his  authority 
for  the  sentiment,  that,  when  the  stars  disap- 
peared, their  light  became  veiled  by  an  incrus- 
tation, like  an  egg  shell,  and  was  thus  covered 
for  years  or  ages,  until,  at  length,  by  the  self 
moving  effervescence  of  the  internal  fires,  that 
shell  was  burst  asunder  and  thrown  off  around 
the  central  light  in  the  form  of  worlds.  Thus 
he  evidently  disclaimed,  altogether,  the  agency 
of  the  Almighty  in  the  origination  of  those 
worlds,  and  was,  so  far,  a  practical  atheist. — 
Other  absurdities,  contained  in  the  belief  of 
that  sect,  came  to  light  during  that  discussion, 
equally  glaring,  which  convinced  me  of  the 
infidel  character  and  tendency  of  their  whole 
system.  Their  claim  to  be  worshippers  of  the 
God  of  the  Bible,  weighs  not  a  feather  in  my 


PREFACE.  V 

mind,  when  they  virtually  mutilate  that  Bible, 
and  give  to  its  Author  attributes  contrary  to 
those  which  the  Bible  gives  him.  An  imag- 
inary Deity,  clothed  with  all  the  attributes  of 
the  Jupiter  of  heathen  mythology,  might,  for 
instance,  be  called  by  some  fanatical  errorists, 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Bible.  But  does  that  make 
him  so  ?  Certainly  not ;  and  we  are  not  bound, 
by  the  pretensions  of  such  a  claim,  to  extend 
charity  to  the  error. 

These  are  some  of  the  reasons,  which  have 
induced  me  thus  to  come  before  the  public 
with  a  defence  of  the  authenticity  and  literality 
of  Genesis  ;  which  defence  is  sustained  by  ar- 
guments drawn  mainly  from  Astronomy,  Geol- 
ogy, and  reason. 

The  last  five  lectures  of  the  series,  are  more 
purely  philosophical,  and  are  devoted  to  the 
examination  and  illustration  of  the  organic 
laws  and  peculiar  properties  of  electricity, 
light,  heat,  and  some  of  the  other  impondera- 
ble agents.  The  reason  why  I  have  introduced 
such  subjects,  in  connection  with  a  defence 


VI  PREFACE. 

of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  Origin  of  the 
Globe  and  the  Deluge,  is,  (if  apology  be  need- 
ed at  all,)  because  much  is  said  in  that  defence 
about  the  effects  of  light,  in  producing  the 
various  phenomena  of  the  creations  of  the  six 
days,  and  the  chemical  changes  resulting  from 
its  agency  ;  and  it,  therefore,  seemed  quite  ap- 
propriate, that  the  properties  and  organic  laws 
of  light  and  other  chemical  agents  should  be 
examined,  in  connection  with  the  other  sub- 
jects of  this  work. 

Without  further  remark,  by  way  of  intro- 
duction, I  shall,  now,  submit,  to  the  candor  of 
the  reading  public,  this  effort  to  defend  truth 
and  expose  error. 

COLUMBUS,  Feb'y,  1850. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE   I. 

Introduction  —  The  asssaults  which  have  been  made  against 
the  Mosaic  history  of  creation  and  the  deluge,  and  the 

~.  final  conflagration  and  re-formation  of  our  solar  system  — 
Two  classes  of  opponents  to  the  truth  of  that  history,  Infi- 
dels and  Swedenborgians,  the  one  denying  the  authenti- 
city, the  other  the  literality  of  Genesis  —  Their  objections  • 
answered  and  refuted  by  facts  and  arguments  drawn  from 
Astronomy  and  Geology  —  Proper  rules  of  Biblical  inter- 
pretation—  The  meaning  of  the  word  "  created,"  in  the 

•  first  verse  of  Genesis  —  Astronomical  facts   with  regard 
7  to  the  conflagration,   disappearance  and  re-formation  of 

stars  —  The  probable  causes  of  their  conflagration  —  The 
question,  "  what  becomes  of  their  material?"  answered  — 
The  probable  construction  of  our  system  from  nebulous 
matter $ 

LECTURE  II. 

The  subject  of  the  nebulae  considered  and  examined  —  The 

-  Hebrew   idiorn  of  the  words    ''light"   and   "lights"  — 
Probable  meaning  of  the  phrase,  "  God  divided  the  light 
from  the  drrkness  "  —  The  "  first  day  "  proven,  by  a  vari- 
ety of  arguments,  to  have  been  a  single  literal  revolution 
of  the   earth   upon  its   axis  —  The   various   opinions  of 
scholars  upon  this  subject 35 

LECTURE  III. 

The  opinions  of  scholars  examined  —  The  geological  forma- 
tions of  the  first  day,  or  the  primary  fossiliferous  period  — 
That  day,  although  constituted  by  a  single  revolution  of 
the  earth,  proven  to  be  ages  in  length  by  those  forma- 
tions—  David  Christy's  examination  of  geological  data  — 
The  remaining  days  considered 59 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  IV. 

Introduction  to  the  proof  of  a  general  deluge  —  Testimony 
drawn  from  universal  tradition  that  such  an  event  once 
took  place  —  The  prophecy  from  the  Aprocryphal  book 
of  Enoch  —  Proof  from  Astronomy  in  the  change  of  the 
north  pole  star,  2,300  years  before  the  Christian  era,  to 
the  distance  of  twenty-three  and  a  half  degrees  from  the 
present  pole  star - 77 

LECTURE  V. 

The  probable  cause  of  the  change  of  the  earth's  polarity  — 
The  effect  of  such  a  change  —  The  poles  of  the  earth  at 
right  angles  with  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  before  the  del- 
uge —  This  was  probably  the  natural  cause  for  the  longev- 
ity of  the  Antediluvian  race  —  The  change  of  polarity 
and  consequent  inclination  of  the  poles,  the  cause  of  those 
extreme  variations  of  temperature  which  have  shortened 
life  —  Testimony  from  Geology  in  favor  of  a  universal 
deluge  —  Reason  unites  her  testimony  with  Astronomy 
and  Geology  in  proof  of  such  an  event  —  The  destruction 
of  our  solar  system  by  fire,  and  its  re-formation 98 

LECTURE  VI. 

The  three  essential  principles  of  the  created  Universe  — 
The  organic  laws  and  peculiar  agencies  of  electricity 
examined  —  The  cause  of  its  attractions  and  repulsions 
considered — That  cause  resides  in  the  electric  current 
itself,  and  exists  independent  of  any  relation  which  it 
bears  to  mere  ponderable  matter  —  The  wonderful  phe- 
noiiema  of  an  alkaline  and  an  acid  taste,  which  is  produ- 
ced by  the  passage  of  the  electric  current  over  the 
tongue  —  The  effect  of  electricity  upon  the  animal  sys- 
tem exhibited  by  its  application  in  a  variety  of  experi- 
ments to  the  dead  body  of  a  murderer 125 

LECTURE  VII. 

The  properties  of  light  considered  —  The  conflicting  theo- 
ries of  Herschel  and  Newton  examined  —  The  theory  of 
a  direct  emanation,  as  sustained  by  Newton,  considered 
the  most  philosophical —  The  sun  supplied  by  the  return 
of  its  own  particles  —  Its  light  proven  by  a  variety  of 
facts,  to  be  electric 152 

LECTURE  VIII. 

Heat  proved  to  be  identical  with  light —  The  curious  exper- 
iment of  Mr.  Cross,  showing  that  electricity  can  be  drawn 


CONTENTS.  IX 


from  the  atmosphere  by  conductors  either  in  fair  or  foul 
weather  —  The  electricity  of  the  atmosphere  proven  to 
be  the  caloric  which  vaporises  water 172 

LECTURE  IX. 

Magnetic  attraction  which  guides  the  needle  of  the  com- 
pass, caused  by  the  influence  of  the  sun  upon  the  earth  — 
The  Aurora  Borealis  and  Aurora  Australis,  or  the  northern 
and  southern  lights,  produced  by  the  caloric,  that  runs 
from  the  equator  to  the  poles,  and  there  passes  upward 
into  the  rarer  regions  of  the  atmosphere  —  Gravitation, 
also,  produced  by  the  sun 189 

LECTURE  X. 

Cohesive  attraction  proved  by  a  variety  of  experiments,  to 
be  the  effect  of  caloric  —  Both  the  diurnal  rotation  and 
annual  revolution  of  our  earth,  and  of  all  the  planets  of 
the  solar  system,  caused  by  the  electric  influence  of  the 
sun  upon  them 203 


LECTURES, 


LECTURE   I. 

v. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  OUR  GLOBE  ASTRONOMICALLY  AND  GEOLOG- 
ICALLY CONSIDERED,  AND  THE  MOSAIC  HISTORY  OF  IT 
JUSTIFIED  AND  DEFENDED  BY  SCIENCE. 

A  subject,  more  popular  and  attractive  to  the  mass- 
es than  the  above,  might,  I  am  well  aware,  have  been 
selected  for  discussion, — for  the  public  taste  has,  in  a 
measure,  been  vitiated  by  the  too  great  prevalence  of 
frivolous  reading  matter,  but  none  more  intrinsically 
important  can  be  named  among  all  the  various  topics 
of  remark : — For,  certainly,  to  no  higher  or  nobler 
purpose  can  the  powers  of  mind — the  force  of  argu- 
ment— or  the  developments  of  science  be  devoted,  than 
to  the  defence  of  the  word  and  unimpeachable  verac- 
ity of  Him,  who  established  all  mental,  moral  and  phys- 
ical law,  from  the  assaults,  which  have,  from  time  to 
time,  been  made  upon  them. 

Strange,  indeed,  is  it,  that  there  should  be  any  ne- 
cessity for  such  a  defence  ;  but  yet  it  is  as  true  as  it  is 
strange.  With  the  most  plausible  sophistries — with 
an  almost  unlimited  invention  of  petty  quibbles  and  ob- 
jections— with  an  untiring  industry,  worthy  of  a  better 
cause — sometimes  even  with  a  rankling,  spiteful  and 
burning  malice,  the  very  incarnation  of  the  pit,  have 
that  word  and  veracity  been  assailed.  But  against  no 
2 


10  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

point  of  the  citadel  of  truth  have  all  these  resources  of 
opposition  and  error  been  marshalled  with  more  in- 
genuity, or  urged  with  greater  vehemence,  or  hurled 
with  more  dexterity  and  bitterness,  than  against  the 
Mosaic  history  of  creation  and  the  deluge,  and  the 
testimony  of  inspiration  respecting  the  final  conflagra- 
tion of  our  system. 

And  such  has,  sometimes,  been  the  fancied  success 
of  these  assaults,  that  a  loud  shout  of  triumphant  ex- 
ultation has  rung  through  Christendom,  as  though  the 
impregnable  walls  of  that  citadel  had  been  battered 
down  ;  and  the  champions  of  truth  have,  sometimes,, 
turned  pale,  and  felt  the  anchor  of  their  hope  giving 
way,  and  trembled  for  the  consequences,  and  have? 
under  the  influence  of  such  fear,  sometimes  made  un- 
necessary and  unjustifiable  concessions,  and  thereby, 
in  a  measure,  weakened  the  positions,  which  they 
should  have  maintained  unflinchingly,  without  one 
single  iota  of  compromise,  keeping  ever  before  them, 
in  characters  bright  as  the  pencillings  of  the  sunbeam. 
"  Truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail."" 

With  unlimited  confidence  in  the  immovable  stabili- 
ty and  everlasting  endurance  of  this  great  proposition, 
I  shall  proceed,  in  a  series  of  six  or  seven  lectures,  to 
defend  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  creation  and 
the  deluge  from  the  assaults  which  have  been  made 
upon  it,  as  well  as  the  testimony  of  inspiration  respect- 
ing the  final  conflagration  and  re-formation  of  our  sys- 
tem ;  and  shall  attempt  to  show,  wherein  injury  has 
been  sustained  by  the  zealous  but  ill  advised  and  mis- 
directed efforts  of  the  champions  of  revelation. 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  1  1 

That  we  may  proceed  understandingly  and  syste- 
matically to  the  performance  of  our  task,  I  will  first 
mark  out  the  whole  field  of  controversy,  and  define  its 
boundaries,  and  reconnoitre  the  precise  position  of  our 
adversaries,  and  describe  their  armor,  and  the  weap- 
ons in  which  they  trust  for  offensive  and  defensive  war- 
fare. 

Marshalled  in  two  grand  divisions,  the  enemies  of 
revelation  are  arrayed  in  hostility  to  the  Mosaic  history 
of  the  origin  of  the  earth,  the  deluge,  and  the  proph- 
ecy respecting  the  conflagration  and  re-formation  of 
our  globe,  mainly  upon  the  ground,  or  within  the  field 
of  reason  and  science,  and  upon  that  ground  or  within 
that  field  we  shall  meet  them. 

The  champions  of  a  rank  and  bold  infidelity  head 
one  division.  They  utterly  deny  both  the  authenticity 
and  literality  of  Genesis  and  the  Bible  generally,  be- 
cause, as  they  affirm,  it  is  inconsistent  with  reason 
— because  there  are  discrepancies  in  the  account  of 
creation  itself,  which  can  not  be  satisfactorily  explain- 
ed and  reconciled,  and  because  it  conflicts,  as  they  af- 
firm, with  all  the  known  facts  of  science  and  Geology. 

The  advocates  of  the  dreamy  phantasies  of  Swe- 
denborg  head  the  other  division,  and,  although  appa- 
rently discarding  the  bold  assumptions  of  infidelity, 
as  untrue,  they  are,  nevertheless,  equally  enemies  of 
the  truth,  and  inculcate  a  less  open  and  reckless,  but 
more  subtle  and  dangerous  infidelity,  inasmuch  as  its 
plausible  sophistries  are  much  better  calculated  to  mis- 


12  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

lead  and  deceive  the  unwary.  They  admit,  it  is  true, 
that  Genesis  is  authentic,  but  yet  entirely  fritter  away 
its  truth,  by  denying  its  literality.  They  affirm  that 
there  was  no  such  creation  and  deluge,  as  a  literal  con- 
struction of  the  history  would  indicate,  but  that  the 
first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis  is  an  allegory,  incom- 
prehensible to  the  mass  of  mankind — that  the  key  to 
this  allegory  was  lost  to  the  world  at  the  confusion  of 
tongues — that  Frederick  Emanuel  Swedenborg  has 
found  it,  a  special  revelation  having  been  made  to  him 
respecting  it,  and  that  he  and  his  initiated  followers  can 
alone  unlock  the  hidden  arcana  of  its  mysteries. 

It  is,  furthermore,  worthy  of  record  and  remem- 
brance, that  the  champions,  who  head  this  division  of 
the  forces  of  error,  use  precisely  the  same  arguments 
against  the  literality  of  Genesis,  that  the  champions, 
who  head  the  other  wing  of  opposition  to  truth,  do 
against  its  authenticity.  And  wherein,  then  is  the 
difference  in  reality,  between  them  ?  There  certainly 
is  none,  except  that  the  infidelity  of  Swedenborgian- 
ism  is  the  subtlest  and  most  dangerous  of  the  two. 

I  will  here  give  a  brief  outline  of  their  argument, 
both  against  the  authenticity  and  literality  of  Genesis, 
and  then  attempt  to  show  that  their  reasoning  is  false 
and  inconclusive. 

They  affirm  that  there  are  discrepancies  in  the  Mo- 
saic account  of  creation  itself,  which  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled, inasmuch  as  it  is  said  that  light  was  created  upon 
the  first  day,  whereas  the  sun  was  not,  according  to 
the  same  account,  created  until  the  fourth  day,  and 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  13 

they,  therefore,  affirm  that  the  whole  history  is  unphi- 
losophical,  since  light  could  not  exist  before  the  sun — 
that,  if  the  record  of  tiie  six  days  creation  be  intend- 
ed to  be  regarded  as  literal,  the  world  is  not,  according 
to  that  history,  but  about  six  thousand  years  old,  which, 
as  they  affirm,  conflicts  with  the  known  and  acknowl- 
edged facts  of  Geology,  by  which  it  is  proved  to  be 
myriads  of  ages  more, — that  it  is  contrary  to  every 
principle  of  reason  and  philosophy  to  suppose  that  the 
deluge  should  so  overflow  the  whole  earth,  as  to  sub- 
merge it  beneath  the  water  fifteen  cubits  below  the 
tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  and  that  the  entire  his- 
tory is,  therefore,  altogether  unworthy  of  belief,  if  re- 
garded as  anything  but  an  ingenious  allegory. 

Now,  in  my  answer  to  these  objections  of  Sweden- 
borgianism  and  infidelity,  I  shall  assume  the  proposi- 
tion, that  the  history  contained  in  the  first  eleven  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  is  both  authentic  and  literal,  and  that, 
if  the  original  Hebrew  be  properly  construed  and  un- 
derstood, that  history  does  not  conflict  at  all  with  the 
known  and  acknowledged  facts  of  Geology,  nor  with 
any  sound  principle  of  reason  or  philosophy. 

I  am  aware  that,  in  thus  assuming  that  the  history  is 
both  authentic  and  strictly  literal,  I  object  to  certain 
admissions,  which  have  been  made  by  the  champions 
and  defenders  of  the  Mosaic  account.  But,  in  justifi- 
cation of  such  a  course,  I  have  reasons  to  urge,  the 
validity  of  which  forcibly  impress  my  own  mind.  ,1 
think  those  admissions  have  been  very  incautiously  and 
injudiciously  as  well  as  unjustifiably  made,  and  have, 
in  many  cases,  materially  weakened  the  defence  of 


14  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

those  champions,  and  unnecessarily  given  their  oppo- 
nents the  decided  advantage  in  the  discussion. 

It  is  a  settled  principle  of  interpretation,  I  believe, 
and  one  perfectly  correct,  that,  in  an  apparent  narra- 
tion of  facts,  if  there  be  nothing  preceding  it,  or  in 
the  narration  itself,  which  indicates  a  figure,  a  parable 
or  an  allegory,  it  is  uniformly  to  be  regarded  as  literal. 
Any  other  rule  would  inevitably  introduce  complete 
confusion  and  perplexing  uncertainty  into  the  medium 
for  the  conveyance  of  thought  or  of  intellectual  im- 
pressions from  mind  to  mind,  and  every  man,  howev- 
er wild  and  crazy  in  his  notions  of  things,  would  ac- 
commodate the  language  to  his  own  mental  vagaries, 
and  build  upon  it  his  own  peculiar  fabric  of  mysti- 
cism, having  his  own  peculiar  key  to  unlock  its  mean- 
ing. 

It  is,  then,  I  say,  an  established  rule  of  interpreta- 
tion, that  every  statement,  purporting  to  be  a  state- 
ment of  facts,  should  be  construed  literally,  according 
to  the  comprehension  of  unsophisticated  minds,  unless 
the  narrator  intimates  by  either  the  text  or  context, 
that  he  is  uttering  or  writing  parables  or  allegories. 

Now  let  us  apply  this  rule  to  the  matter  under  dis- 
cussion. There  is  no  indication  whatever,  in  the  Mo- 
saic account  of  creation,  of  any  thing  but  a  plain, 
straight  forward  narrative  of  events,  which  actually 
and  literally  transpired,  exactly  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  described.  Any  other  hypothesis  would 
create  confusion  in  our  ideas — would  send  the  honest 
enquirer  after  truth  afloat  upon  a  dark  and  wild  ocean 


<ON    THE    OR1CIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  1 

•of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  without  compass,  or  rudder, 
or  helmsman. 

There  is  something,  for  illustration,  directly  to  this 
point  in  the  matter  under  discussion.  When  it  is  af- 
firmed in  the  narrative  of  Genesis,  that -"the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  first  day,"  we  must  either 
regard  it  as  a  single  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its 
axis,  which  constitutes  a  literal  "  evening  and  morn- 
ing" or  else,  the  moment  we  depart  from  its  strict  lit- 
erality,  and  admit  that  ihe  days  spoken  of  might  be 
each  of  them  many  hundreds  or  many  thousands  of 
years  or  ages,  we  can  then,  set  no  boundaries  at  all  to 
the  extent  of  the  figure,  and,  at  once  lose  sight  of  al'l 
reliable  landmarks  in  the  discussion.  The  objector 
may  then  very  plausibly  and  justifiably  declare,  that 
we  have  no  authority  whatever  to  assert,  for  the  sake 
of  convenience,  or  to  help  ourselves  out  of  a  dilemma, 
that  a  part  of  the  narrative  of  Genesis  is  figurative  and 
a  part  literal.  He  may  very  justly  require  that  we 
should  make  the  narrative  either  entirely  figurative  or 
entirely  literal,  and  not  make  it  the  one  or  the  other, 
just  so  far  as  it  may  happen  to  suit  our  purposes  or 
convenience.  I  cheerfully  concede,  and  must,  in  hon- 
esty, concede,  that  he  is  right  in  the  requirement. 

But  it  may  be  asked  by  some  of  the  champions  of 
revelation,  whether,  by  assuming  this  position  of  strict 
literal  ity,  I  do  not,  in  fact,  deny  the  well  attested  facts 
of  Geology.  Not  at  all.  For  I  consider  a  well  au- 
thenticated and  indisputable  fact  of  Geology,  just  as 
worthy  of  implicit  belief,  as  an  equally  well  authenti- 


16  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE, 

cated  and  indisputable  fact  of  revelation,  for  both  facts 
had  their  origin  in  the  same  reliable  source,  and  both 
emanated  from  the  same  fountain  of  eternal  truth. 
The  same  Being,  whose  hand,  in  the  exertion  of  its 
resistless  Omnipotence,  formed  and  moulded  each  geo- 
logical stratification  of  the  globe,  in  its  respective  or- 
der, gave  utterance,  also,  to  each  recorded  fact  and 
event  mentioned  in  revelation.  Both  Geology  and 
Revelation  must,  then,  of  necessity  harmonize  perfect- 
ly, and  instead  of  conflicting,  as  the  sceptic  affirms, 
must  mutually  corroborate  the  truth  of  each  other. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  attempting,  in  this  discussion,  to 
array  Revelation  against  the  facts  of  Science,  or  Science 
against  the  facts  of  Revelation,  I  shall  regard  them 
both  as  equally  true  and  equally  worthy  of  implicit 
confidence,  and  shall  use  them  as  mutual  elucidators 
of  each  other's  meaning. 

Now,  one  thought  more  upon  the  subject  of  strict 
literality,  and  I  will  dismiss  the  subject.  The  great 
fountain  of  all  wisdom  and  knowledge  must  be  quite 
as  felicitous  in  his  choice  of  language  to  convey  his 
meaning,  as  the  most  critical  and  acute  philologist. 
He  uses  no  word  at  random,  or  loosely  and  ambigu- 
ously, when  conveying  his  thoughts  and  purposes. 
Every  phrase  signifies  precisely  what  it  was  intended 
to  signify.  He  must,  also,  know  perfectly  the  menta* 
calibre  and  strength  of  understanding  of  those  to 
whom  he  condescends  to  communicate  his  thoughts* 
When,  for  instance,  he  made  a  revelation  to  man,  he 
knew  precisely  what  man  was,  and  of  course,  he  made 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  17 

it  to  be  understood  by  man,  or  else  it  was  no  revela- 
tion at  all ;  for  that,  which  purports  to  be  a  revela- 
tion, must,  of  course,  be  communicated  in  language  to 
be  understood  by  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  or 
else  it  is  no  revelation  certainly,  but  a  tantalizing  de- 
ception— a  mockery,  to  which  no  pure  and  benevolent 
being  would  stoop.  God,  then,  who  cannot  stoop  to 
any  such  deception  and  mockery,  made  that  revela- 
tion to  man  to  be  understood,  without  relying  upon 
the  aid  of  Frederick  Emanuel  Swedenborg  to  help 
him  explain  himself,  by  unlocking  the  arcana  of  mys- 
teries, otherwise  sealed  and  incomprehensible  without 
his  aid — a  man  who  violates  every  single  rational, 
common  sense,  reliable  principle  of  interpretation — 
who  distorts  language  with  all  the  wildness  and  inco- 
herence of  insanity — who  impiously  arrogates  that  im- 
portant revelations  have  been  made  to  him  by  Deity, 
and  yet  is  the  author  of  a  book  "  concerning  conju- 
gial  and  scortatory  love"  which  ought  to  be  classed 
with  the  very  filthiest  of  obscene  publications,  unfit  to 
be  seen  in  any  decent  family,  and  richly  worthy  of 
being  presented,  as  an  intolerable  nuisance,  by  every 
grand  jury  in  the  nation. 

We  draw  this  conclusion,  then,  from  what  has  been 
said,  that,  when  the  Deity  made  a  plain  statement  of 
certain  facts,  as  those  regarding  creation,  he  expected, 
doubtless,  that  they  would  be  received  as  facts,  ad- 
dressed to  the  comprehension  of  common  minds.  Any 
other  supposition  would  be  a  libel  upon  the  fountain 
of  all  wisdom  and  knowledge. 
2* 


18  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

I  must,  then,  from  our  deductions,  regard  the  Mo- 
saic account  as  literally  true,  and  proceed,  as  best  I 
can,  to  show  how  the  facts  of  Geology  can  be  recon- 
ciled with  that  account,  or  that  account  with  the  facts 
of  Geology  :  For  I  hold  it  to  be  a  proposition,  capa- 
ble of  incontrovertible  proof,  that  every  fact  made 
known  by  Deity,  in  the  revelation  of  his  creation,  has 
its  corresponding  fact  in  Geology,  which  exactly  coin- 
cides and  must,  of  necessity,  exactly  coincide  with  it, 
whether  with  my  limited  research  and  finite  powers  of 
mind,  I  can  discover  that  coincidence  or  not. 

We  will  now  commence  a  careful  and  critical  re- 
view of  the  history  of  creation  in  Genesis,  and  exam- 
ine it  step  by  step  to  ascertain  its  real  meaning,  bring- 
ing in  the  aid  of  science  and  reason  to  explain  and 
elucidate  its  extreme  brevity. 

When  it  is  said  that — "  In  the  beginning  God  crea- 
ted the  heavens,  and  the  earth,"  it  is  generally  under- 
stood by  the  phrase,  I  believe,  that  the  Deity,  then, 
originated  from  non-entity  the  material,  out  of  which 
our  system  was  formed.  Now,  in  a  discussion,  where 
important  truths  are  at  stake,  I  regard  it  as  a  very  in- 
expedient policy  to  assume  that  anything  is  a  positive 
fact,  past  controversy,  contradiction  or  doubt,  if  it  be 
at  all  doubtful.  Such  an  unwise  course  only  weakens 
the  position  it  was  intended  to  strengthen,  and  gives  an 
opponent  of  real  truth  a  decided  advantage.  Such 
has  been  the  case  in  my  estimation  with  regard  to  the 
first  verse  of  Genesis.  The  original  Hebrew  word, 


ON   THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBEo  19 

translated — "  create^"— in  that  connection,  does  not 
necessarily  signify  an  absolute  origination  of  material 
from  nothing^  for  the  word  is  used  elsewhere  to  signi- 
fy the  modification  of  material  which  already  existed, 
and  I  shall  not,  therefore,  for  the  reasons  before  stated, 
so  consider  it,  since  such  an  assumption  is  not  at  all 
essential  to  the  validity  of  our  argument.  That  ma- 
terial, I  ana  willing  to  concede,  might,  from  aught  that 
appears  in  the  Hebrew  idiom,  have  existed,  in  other 
forms,  for  untold  ages  previous  to  this  grand  event, 
and  might,  for  aught  we  can  say  to  the  contrary,  have 
undergone  ten  thousand  various  transformations  be- 
fore, in  accordance  with  the  phenomena  of  ceaseless 
change  which  Astronomy  reveals.  In  conceding  this 
point,  I  concede  nothing  worth  controversy  to  the  ob- 
jector. It  is  entirely  immaterial  to  our  argument, 
whether  it  were  then  originated,  or  whether  it  had  un- 
dergone innumerable  changes  and  modifications  pre- 
viously. Let  it  not,  however,  for  a  moment  be  under- 
stood, that  in  making  this  concession,  I  concede,  also, 
that  the  same  material  might  have  existed  eternally  and 
been  unoriginated  ;  for  I  admit  no  such  thing.  There 
was  a  period  of  time  in  the  untold  ages  of  the  past, 
when  it  must,  in  the  very  inherent  necessity  of  things, 
have  been  originated  from  non-entity.  For  it  could 
easily  be  shown,  by  a  process  of  incontrovertible  rea- 
soning, which,  however,  is  foreign  from  the  present 
discussion,  that  there  could  not  possibly  exist  together 
two  co-eternal,  self-existent  essences  ;  so  that,  if  mind 
foe  eternal,  matter  cannot  be,  and  must,  therefore,  of 


20  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE, 

necessity,  be  under  the  control  of  that  eternal  mind? 
and  must  have  been  originated. 

We  will  here  introduce  a  quotation  from  the  British 
Cyclopedia,  which  coincides,  in  a  measure,  with  the 
view  above  expressed  of  the  first  verse  of  Genesis. 

"  Creation,  in  its  strict  and  primary  sense,  denotes 
the  causing  of  a  substance  or  being  to  exist,  which 
had  no  existence  before ;  and,  therefore,  it  implies  no 
contradiction.  That  there  is  one  underived  and  self- 
existing  cause  from  which  all  other  beings  derive  their 
existence,  and  upon  which  they  entirely  depend,  is  a 
truth  capable  of  incontestable  demonstration.  Con- 
sequently, all  beings,  except  the  first  cause,  must  have 
been  produced,  or  brought  into  being,  by  the  power 
and  agency  of  the  first  cause ;  not  produced  "  out  of 
nothing,"  as  some  have  inaccurately  expressed  it,  but 
out  of  nothing  besides  the  immense  and  inconceiva- 
ble fullness  of  the  self-existent  being,  who  must  have 
in  himself  the  power  and  possibility  of  all  being ; 
though  we  cannot  comprehend  or  conceive  in  what 
manner,  or  by  what  kind  of  agency,  he  creates  or 
communicates  existence  to  beings  distinct  from  him- 
self. The  term  "  creation"  is  used,  in  a  secondary 
and  less  proper  sense,  where  any  particular  bodies  are 
formed  out  of  such  a  mass  of  matter  as  seems  to  be 
entirely  unfit  for  that  purpose ;  when  such  changes 
are  made  in  any  substance  as  are  generally  supposed 
to  be  above  the  power  of  creatures,  and  to  belong  to 
God  alone: — thus  God  created  fish  and  fowls  out  of 
the  water,  and  man  and  beasts  out  of  the  earth ; 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  21 

though  the  creation  of  the  substance  of  water  or  earth, 
or  the  matter  out  of  which  they  were  made,  is  the 
original  sense  of  the  word.  The  Hebrew  word, 
(Gen.  i,  1.)  rendered  "  created"  has,  it  is  said,  chiefly 
on  the  authority  of  Maimonides,  been  considered  as 
implying  what  theologians  call  "  an  absolute  creation 
out  of  nothing."  But  this,  it  has  been  alleged,  is  not 
its  appropriate  meaning.  It  rather  means  to  fashion, 
form  and  decorate,  a  matter  already  existing;  and  in 
this  connection  especially  it  means  to  retrieve  from  a 
state  of  desolation,  and  to  embellish  this  little  spot  of 
earth,  so  as  to  render  it  fit  for  its  inhabitants.  In  this 
limited  sense  God  is  afterwards  (ch.  ii,  7.)  said  to  have 
created  man,  not  out  of  nothing,  but  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground.  Joshua  (xviii,  15,  18,)  bids  the  chil- 
dren of  Joshua  create  to  themselves  a  more  ample  pos- 
session, by  cutting  down  the  woods.  Goliath  (1  Sam. 
xvii,  8,)  desires  the  Israelites  to  create,  that  is,  choose 
or  prepare,  a  proper  champion  to  fight  with  him.  In 
Numb,  xvi,  30 ;  1  Kings  xii,  33 ;  and  Nehem.  vi,  8, 
it  signifies  to  devise,  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  cited  pas- 
sage of  Kings  ;  and  the  word  devise  would  have  been 
more  proper  in  the  other  places." 

Again  the  same  authority  makes  the  conclusive  re- 
mark, "  upon  the  whole  we  may  observe,  that  it  seems 
to  have  been  a  current  opinion  among  the  ancient 
Jews  and  earliest  Christians,  that  the  world  was  created 
by  God  of  pre-existing,  unfashioned  matter.  The 
matter  of  which  the  Earth  was  created,  or  rendered 


2£  ON   THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE, 

a  habitable  world,  was  "  without  form  and  void," 
(v.  2,)  or  a  desolate  waste,  or  in  a  state  of  dissolu- 
tion ;  that  is,  as  some  have  supposed,  a  pre-existing 
earth  reduced  by  some  awful  calamity  to  a  chaotic 
state." 

As  we  shall  be  required,  in  the  proper  illustration  of 
our  subject,  to  take  notice  of  the  various  changes 
which  are  going  on  among  the  systems  of  the  starry 
heavens,  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  here  to  make  the 
passing  remark,  that  the  very  fact  of  those  changes, 
proves  that  matter  is  not  eternal,  for,  if  it  were  it 
would  not  change,  and  that  the  self-existent  and  eter- 
nal Essence  which  produces  and  controls  these  changes 
must  himself  be  unchangeable  and  everlastingly  the 
same. 

We  will  now  glance  at  some  of  the  startling  phe- 
nomena of  mutation  which  Astronomy  reveals,  so 
lhat  we  may  call  in  the  important  aid  of  analogy  to 
the  defence  of  the  positions,  which  we  may,  hereaf- 
ter, assume.  And  here  I  will  introduce  several  facts 
from  Burritt's  Geography  of  the  Heavens,  from  which 
JL  design  to  draw  certain  conclusions.  They  relate  to 
the  wonderful  disappearance  and  re-formation  of  fixed 
stars  or  suns. 

"  Two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  a  bright  star 
shone,  five  degrees  north-northeast  of  the  star  Caph, 
in  the  constellation  of  Cassiopeia,  where  now  is  a 
dark  void  !" 

"On  the  8th  of  November,  1572,  Tycho  Brahe 
and  Cornelius  Gemma  saw  a  star  in  the  constellation 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  23 

of  Cassiopeia,  which  became,  all  at  once,  so  brilliant, 
that  it  surpassed  the  splendor  of  the  brightest  plan- 
ets, and  might  be  seen  even  at  noonday  !  Gradually, 
this  great  brilliancy  diminished,  until  the  15th  of 
March,  1753,  when,  without  moving  from  its  place, 
it  became  utterly  extinct. 

"  Its  color,  during  this  time,  exhibited  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  a  prodigious  flame — first  it  was  of  a  daz- 
zling white,  then  of  a  reddish  yellow,  and  lastly  of 
an  ashy  paleness,  in  which  its  light  expired.  It  is 
impossible,  says  Mrs.  Somerville,  to  imagine  anything 
more  tremendous  than  a  conflagration  that  could  be 
visible  at  such  a  distance.  It  was  seen  for  sixteen 
months. 

"  Some  astronomers  imagined  that  it  would  reap- 
pear again  after  150  years  ;  but  it  has  never  been  dis- 
covered since.  This  phenomena  alarmed  all  the  as- 
tronomers of  the  age,  who  beheld  it ;  and  many  of 
them  wrote  dissertations  concerning  it. 

"Another  instance  of  the  same  kind  was  observed 
in  1604,  when  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  suddenly 
appeared  in  the  right  foot  of  Ophiuchus.  It  pre- 
sented, like  the  former,  all  the  phenomena  of  a  pro- 
digious flame,  being,  at  first,  of  a  dazzling  white,  then 
of  a  reddish  yellow,  and  lastly,  of  a  leaden  paleness ; 
in  which  its  light  expired.  These  instances  prove 
that  the  stars  are  subject  to  great  physical  revolu- 
tions. 

"  Rev.  Professor  Vince,  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  pious  astronomers  of  the  age,  has  this  remark : — 


24  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

The  disappearance  of  the  stars  may  be  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  system  at  the  time  appointed  by  the 
Deity  for  the  probation  of  its  inhabitants ;  and  the 
appearance  of  new  stars  may  be  the  formation  of  new 
systems  for  new  races  of  beings  then  called  into  ex- 
istence to  adore  the  works  of  the  Creator." 

"  Thus,  we  may  conceive  the  Deity  to  have  been 
employed  from  all  eternity,  and  thus  he  may  continue 
to  be  employed  for  endless  ages  ;  forming  new  sys- 
tems of  beings  to  adore  him ;  and  transplanting  be- 
ings already  formed  into  happier  regions,  who  will 
continue  to  rise  higher  and  higher  in  their  enjoyments, 
and  go  on  to  contemplate  system  after  system  through 
the  boundless  universe. 

"La  Place  says: — As  to  those  stars  which  sud- 
denly shine  forth  with  a  very  vivid  light,  and  then  im- 
mediately disappear,  it  is  extremely  probable  that 
great  conflagrations  produced  by  extraordinary  causes 
take  place  on  their  surface.  This  conjecture,  contin- 
ues he,  is  confirmed  by  their  change  of  color,  which 
is  analogous  to  that  presented  to  us  upon  the  earth  by 
those  bodies  which  are  set  on  fire,  and  are,  then, 
gradually  extinguished. 

The  late  eminent  Dr.  Mason  Good  observes,  that 
"  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds  are  not  only  being  per- 
petually created,  but  are  also  perpetually  disappear- 
ing. It  is  an  extraordinary  fact,  that,  within  the  pe- 
riod of  the  last  century,  not  less  than  thirteen  stars 
in  different  constellations  seem  to  have  totally  perish- 
ed, and  ten  new  ones  have  been  created.  In  many 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  25 

instances  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  stars  them- 
selves, the  supposed  habitation  of  other  kinds  and  or- 
ders of  intelligent  beings,  together  with  the  different 
planets,  by  which  it  is  probable  they  were  surround- 
ed, have  utterly  vanished,  and  the  spots,  which  they 
occupied  in  the  heavens,  have  become  blanks!" 

Aside  from  the  consideration  of  the  grandeur  and 
sublimity  of  the  ideas  contained  in  the  above  extracts, 
I  have  been  influenced  in  their  selection  for  the  sake 
of  certain  practical  conclusions,  relevant  to  the  sub- 
ject under  discussion,  which  I  design  to  draw  from  the 
interesting  and  startling  facts,  which  they  unfold. 

Those  stars,  whose  wonderful  disappearance  is  thus 
spoken  of,  were  suns,  and,  reasoning  from  analogy 
we  must  conclude  that  they  were  not  isolated — that 
they  shone  not  on  empty  space  in  vain,  but  that  they 
were  surrounded,  like  our  sun,  with  their  attendant 
retinue  of  worlds  or  opaque  bodies,  which  revolved 
around  their  central  and  guiding  influences.  Now 
when  any  one  of  those  fixed  stars  or  suns  disappeared 
from  the  heavens — when,  for  instance,  that  in  the  con- 
stellation of  Cassiopeia  expired  in  such  a  remarkable 
manner,  what  became  of  the  planets,  which  were  con- 
troled  in  their  movements  by  its  light  and  heat  ?  Why, 
they,  doubtless,  perished  with  it ;  as  all  mere  matter 
must,  when  the  controlling  element  of  light  is  with- 
drawn from  it.  For  should  our  sun,  for  instance,  be 
suddenly  blotted  from  the  heavens,  the  order  and  reg- 
ularity of  the  whole  solar  system  would  be  instantane- 


«*6  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

cmsly  destroyed,  and  all  the  planets,  which  compose 
that  system, would  rush  headlong  to  anarchy  and  chaos. 
Another  important  query  here  naturally  suggests  it- 
self in  connection  with  the  subject  under  discussion. 
When  the  star  in  1572  increased  so  immensely  in 
size  and  brilliancy,  as  to  present  the  appearance  of  a 
tremendous  conflagration,  what  supplied  the  fuel  for 
that  conflagration,  which  was  so  intensely  luminous  as 
to  be  apparent  to  astronomers  of  our  globe  more  than 
forty  millions  of  millions  of  miles  distant.  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  press  with  great  urgency  fora 
definite  and  satisfactory  answer  ;  for,  never  was  there, 
be  it  remembered,  an  effect  without  a  cause,  or  a  cause 
without  an  effect — never  was  there  a  fire  without  fuel 
or  combustible  materials  of  some  sort  to  make  it !  The 
only  answer  to  this  question,  then,  which  I  can  con- 
ceive as  at  all  appropriate  or  reasonable,  is,  that 
the  law  of  centripetal  and  centrifugal  force,  which 
kept  the  opaque  worlds  that  surrounded  that  star  so 
perfectly  balanced  in  their  several  spheres  up  to  the 
time  appointed  for  its  destruction,  was  suspended  by 
the  same  Almighty  power  that  enacted  that  law,  and, 
then,  those  planets,  no  longer  balanced  in  their  orbits, 
must  have  rushed  into  the  great  central  fires  of  their 
system,  and  been  buried  beneath  its  ocean  waves  of 
flame  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  cubits  deeper, 
than  was  this  globe  of  ours  beneath  the  waters  of  the 
deluge  of  Noah.  The  necessary  result  of  such  a 
grand  catastrophe  would  have  been  a  vast  increase  of 
the  size  of  that  star,  and  would  have  produced  a  con- 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  27 

flagration  so  prodigious  as  to  be  noticed  some  forty 
millions  of  millions  of  miles  distant  by  Tycho  Brahe, 
the  astronomer  of  our  globe,  who  observed  it. 

But  some  one  may  here  ask  the  question  whether 
that  sun  was  hot  enough  thus  to  burn  up  its  depend- 
ent worlds,  since  some  philosophers  assume  that  the 
suns  or  fixed  stars  of  the  universe  are  nothing  more 
than  opaque  bodies  themselves,  surrounded  by  a  lu- 
minous atmosphere  ? 

To  answer  this  question  satisfactorily,  as  we  imag- 
ine can  easily  be  done,  we  must  appeal  to  facts, 
which  are  the  only  safe  criteria,  whereby  to  form  a 
judgment.  It  was  estimated,  for  instance,  by  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  and  other  astronomers  of  the  day,  who  care- 
fully computed  the  elements  of  the  celebrated  comet 
of  1680,  that  it  approached  only  within  one  million 
and  three  hundred  thousand  miles  of  the  surface  of 
the  sun,  and  yet  that  it  was  heated,  even  at  that  dis- 
tance, two  thousand  times  hotter  than  red  hot  iron — 
hotter,  indeed,  by  several  degrees,  than  was  sufficient 
to  burn  up  and  completely  vaporize  any  known  sub- 
stance within  the  compass  of  our  observation.  If  then, 
at  the  distance  1 ,300,000  miles  from  the  surface  of 
the  sun,  the  heat  be  so  intense  as  to  burn  up  and  va- 
porize any  substance  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
even  including  the  rock-ribbed  hills  of  granite,  what 
must  have  been  its  effect  upon  worlds  plunged  beneath 
its  mountainous  waves  of  fire  ?  Why  surely,  just 
what  Tycho  Brahe  saw  in  1572 — a  conflagration  so 


28  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

enormous,  as  to  astonish  astronomers  millions  of  mil- 
lions of  miles  distant. 

But  again,  was  that  star  large  enough  thus  to  en- 
gulph  its  dependent  worlds  within  its  capacious  vor- 
tex of  etherial  fire  ?  By  analogy  we  infer  that  it  was. 

Had  the  appointed  time  now  come,  for  instance, 
long  since  predicted  in  the  Bible,  for  the  dissolution 
by  fire  of  our  system,  and  for  the  melting  and  burning 
of  our  elements  by  fervent  heat,  how  could  the  great 
event  be  accomplished  ?  It  is  a  known  fact,  the  re- 
sult of  accurate  mathematical  calculation,  that  the  ag- 
gregate magnitude  of  all  the  primary  planets  with 
their  attendant  satellites,  put  them  all  together,  would 
be  over  one  million  and  three  hundred  thousand 
times  less  than  the  bulk  of  the  sun.  To  acquire,  so 
far  as  possible,  an  adequate  idea  of  its  immense  com- 
parative bulk,  and  to  fill  the  mind,  in  some  measure, 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  subject,  I  will  here  quote  a 
remark  or  two  from  Burritt.  "  Of  a  body  so  vast  in 
its  dimensions,  the  human  mind,  with  all  its  efforts, 
can  form  no  adequate  conception.  The  whole  dis- 
tance between  the  earth  and  the  moon  would  not  suf- 
fice to  embrace  one  third  ot  its  diameter.  "  Were 
the  sun  a  hollow  sphere,  perforated  with  a  thousand 
openings  to  admit  the  twinklings  of  the  luminous  at- 
mosphere around  it — and  were  a  globe  as  large  as  the 
earth  placed  at  its  centre,  with  a  satellite  as  large  as 
our  moon,  and  at  the  same  distance  from  it  as  she  is 
from  the  earth,  there  would  be  present  to  the  eye  of  a 
spectator  on  the  interior  globe,  a  universe  as  splendid 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  29 

as  that  which  now  appears  to  the  uninstructed  eye — a 
universe  as  large  and  extensive  as  the  whole  creation 
was  conceived  to  be,  in  the  infancy  of  astronomy." 

It  must  be  apparent  then  from  what  has  been  said, 
that  the  sun  is  large  enough  to  engulph  all  the  planets 
that  surround  it  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  fath- 
oms beneath  its  ocean  waves  of  etherial  fire.  By  an- 
alogy we  infer,  then,  that  the  star,  which  burnt  out  in 
1572  was  large  enough  thus  to  swallow  up  and  devour 
its  whole  retinue  of  dependent  worlds. 

Now,  if  fixed  stars  have  been  burnt  out,  and  have 
disappeared  from  the  heavens,  leaving  their  places  a 
blank,  as  is  a  well  attested  fact  of  science,  and  if,  as 
is  very  probable,  these  dependent  worlds  have  suppli- 
ed the  fuel  for  that  immense  conflagration,  what  has 
become  of  the  material  of  those  suns  and  worlds? 
Was  it  annihilated  ?  From  analogy  I  conclude  not. 
Whenever  there  is  a  destruction,  for  instance,  of  any 
combustible  material  by  fire,  annihilation  is  not  a  ne- 
cessary consequence.  Not  a  single  particle  of  its  re- 
sulting elements  is  lost.  They  all  exist  some  where, 
either  in  smoke,  or  in  the  gasses,  or  in  ashes.  When 
water  becomes  united  with  heat,  it  passes  into  an 
aeriform  condition,  and  is  magnified  some  eighteen 
hundred  or  two  thousand  times.  Each  minute  parti- 
cle forms  a  little  vesicle  or  minute  balloon  filled  with 
caloric,  but  still  there  is  no  diminution  of  its  substance 
by  the  change.  You  have  only  to  abstract  the  calor- 
ic to  condense  it  into  water  again,  having  the  same 
bulk  as  it  had  before  vaporization. 


30  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

Now,  what  is  the  rational  conclusion  with  regard  to 
the  star  of  1572,  or  that  of  1604  in  the  right  foot  of 
the  constellation  of  Ophiuchus,  or  of  that  of  any  oth- 
er star,  which  has  thus  burnt  out  and  disappeared  ? 
Why,  that  the  opaque  bodies,  which  surrounded  them, 
were  precipitated  into  them  —  were  vaporized  by  their 
intense  heat — the  material  of  each  was  united  with 
the  other,  as  is  always  the  case  with  caloric  and  opaque 
matter,  when  brought  into  contact  in  certain  propor- 
tions— being  vaporized,  it  became  vastly  magnified  and 
aeriform  in  its  character,  and  disappeared  from  its  for- 
mer fixed  location  and  floated  away  through  space,  to 
mingle,  probably,  with  the  nebulous  matter,  or  irresol- 
vable star  dust  of  the  skies,  which  is,  doubtless,  the 
faintly  luminous  and  vaporized  material  of  burnt  out 
worlds  and  suns,  held  there  in  chemical  union  by  some 
mysterious  bond,  until,  by  the  all  creating  fiat  of  the 
Almighty,  it  shall  be  ordered  to  some  appointed  spot 
of  the  universe,  —  be  there  separated,  the  opaque  mat- 
ter by  itself,  and  the  caloric,  which  holds  it  in  a  state 
of  vaporization,  by  itself,  —  and  there  be  re-formed  by 
the  Omnific  Word,  which  every  where  controls  it,  in- 
to another  solar  system,  taking  its  place  again  among 
the  clusters  of  some  one  of  the  constellations.  Is  this 
mere  fiction,  or  sportive  ideality  ?  Is  there,  in  fact, 
any  other  rational  solution  of  the  question  with  which 
we  started  ?  Is  there  any  other  more  satisfactory  the- 
ory to  account  for  the  phenomena  of  the  luminous 
nebulae  or  irresolvable  star  dust  of  the  skies,  than  that 
it  is  the  vaporized  material  of  burnt  out  suns  and 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  31 

worlds  held  in  aeriform  condition  by  caloric,  the  great 
vaporizing  agent,  and  rendered  slightly  phosphorescent 
or  luminous  in  its  appearance,  by  the  excess  of  the 
caloric  of  each  sun  over  the  bulk  of  its  dependent 
worlds,  as  we  have  seen  is  the  case,  by  a  comparison 
of  the  solar  system  ;  for  were  the  material  of  our  sun 
and  worlds  to  be  vaporiz-ed  and  held  in  chemical  union, 
the  caloric  so  far  exceeds,  in  bulk,  the  opaque  matter, 
that  the  vapor  must  necessarially  be  luminous. 

Now,  if,  in  such  matters,  we  have  any  right  at  all 
to  draw  conclusions  from  scientific  analogies,  and  I 
believe  we  have,  for  God  invites  investigation  of  his 
works,  then,  I  conceive,  that  this  is  precisely  the  phe- 
nomena which  is  described  in  the  second  and  third 
verses  of  Genesis.  Mark  the  language  of  that  rec- 
ord. It  was  true,  and  will  be  found,  scrutinize  it 
closely  as  you  may,  to  coincide  with  all  true  science. 
"  The  earth  was  without  form  and  void" — that  is, — 
there  was  nothing  but  perfect  vacuum,  so  far  as  mere 
matter  is  concerned,  where  it  now  hangs,  "  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  Yes,  the  vast 
space  now  occupied  by  our  solar  system,  might  well 
be  called  a  "  deep" — "  a  void" — or  vacuum — a  blank 
ocean,  whose  immensity  can  scarcely  be  fathomed  or 
comprehended  by  finite  minds. 

Sirius,  the  bright  star  in  the  constellation  Canis  ma- 
jor, is  considered  the  nearest  fixed  star  to  our  earth, 
and  yet  its  distance  is  computed  to  be  twenty  millions 
of  millions  of  miles  from  us — a  distance  so  great,, 
that  a  cannon  ball,  flying  at  the  rate  of  nineteen  miles 


32  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

a  minute,  would  be  two  millions  of  years  in  passing 
over  the  mighty  interval;  while  sound,  moving  at  the 
rate  of  thirteen  miles  a  minute,  would  not  reach  it 
in  less  than  three  millions  of  years."*  This  distance, 
however,  is  only  a  part  of  one  of  the  radii  shooting 
out  from  the  centre  of  this  ocean  of  space,  occupied 
by  our  system,  the  whole  diameter  of  which,  must 
have  been  more  than  forty  millions  of  millions  of 
miles,  and  whose  cubic  bulk  must  have  been  past  all 
finite  comprehension.  "  Darkness  was  upon  the  face 
of  this  deep,"  as  there  was  nothing  throughout  the 
whole  boundaries  of  its  "  void"  or  vacuum  to  illumi- 
nate it.  And  the  important  hour  had  now  come  to 
fill  this  "  void."  "  The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters"  This  is  the  language  of  our 
translation  with  which,  from  careful  investigation,  I 
am  not  entirely  satisfied.  The  Hebrew  of  the  origi- 
nal will  bear  a  different  construction.  We  may  safe- 
ly and  appropriately  render  it — "  The  Spirit  of  God 
brooded  upon  the  surface  of  the  billowy  confusion" — 
that  is,  upon  the  vaporous  masses  of  matter  that  had 
been  decomposed  by  the  convulsion  of  some  previous 
destruction  and  reduced  to  a  chaotic  state. 

Now  where  was  the  material  which  constituted  this 
billowy  confusion?  Was  it  in  the  " void"  spoken 
of?  I  apprehend  that  it  could  not  have  been.  No- 
thing was  there  but  a  blank — a  "  void"  throughout 
whose  vast  extent  "  darkness"  rested.  But  the  ma- 

*  Vide  Burritt's  Geography  of  the  Henvens. 


XJN    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  33 

Serial ,  which  constituted  this  "  billowy  confusion"  was 
something,  and  had  a  location.  Now  was  it  not  the 
vaporous  and  chaotic  elements  of  burnt  out  systems, 
since  the  material  of  lost  suns  and  worlds  must  exist 
somewhere  in  space  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  un- 
less, when  they  so  wonderfully  disappeared,  they  were 
absolutely  annihilated,  for  which  hypothesis  we  have 
no  proof  at  all  ?  Was  it  not  the  billowy  material  of 
the  floating  and  irresolvable  nebulae  ?  By  the  investi- 
gations I  have  made,  I  prefer  this  as  the  most  ration- 
al and  philosophical  hypothesis,  the  one  best  calcula- 
ted to  rescue  the  Mosaic  history  from  the  difficulties 
which  surround  it  and  defend  it  from  the  subtle  ob- 
jections whcih  are  urged  against  it. 

Upon  these  vapours — these  billowy  masses,  "  the 
Spirit  of  God  moved"  with  energizing  power.  Then 
was  issued  that  ornnific  mandate,  which  Longinus 
and  others  have  so  much  admired  for  its  sublimity, 
-grandeur  and  brevity  : — "  And  God  said,  let  there  be 
light  and  there  was  light."  Light,  where?  Why, 
light  diffused  through  that  "  deep,"  where  "  dark- 
ness" dwelt  before.  Was  it  there  previously,  or  its 
material?  No,  for  the  space  wa?  a  "void"  previous- 
ly. It  must  either  have  been  originated  then,  or  been 
ordered  there.  It  certainly  was  not  originated  then,  for 
"  the  Spirit  of  God  had  just  moved  upon  a"  material, 
which  existed.  The  rational  conclusion  then  is,  that, 
when  the  "Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  billowy  mass- 
es," they  were  the  luminous  nebulous  masses  of  the 
sky  ;  and  when  "  God  said,  let  there  be  light,  and  there 
3 


H4  ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE., 

was  light,"  so  much  of  that  luminous  star-dust,  ay 
had  been  "moved"  upon,  energized,  and  separated  ; 
©beyed,  instantaneously,  the  will  of  its  sovereign,  and 
filled  the  "  void"  of  the  "  deep"  with  its  luminous- 
ness,  upon  whose  "  face"  "  darkness"  had  brooded 
before.  This  light  certainly,  which  God  then  spoke 
into  existence,  was  not  the  sun  ;  for,  the  sun  was  not 
created  until  the  fourth  day,  an  account  of  which  is 
contained  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
verses  of  the  same  Chapter. 

As  this  is  a  very  important  point  to  establish,  anrf 
as  the  validity  of  our  theory  depends  upon  it,  I  shall, 
in  my  next  lecture,  consider,  more  at  Iarge7  the  char- 
acter of  the  nebulae,  and  bring  to  our  aid  the  discov- 
eries of  astronomers  in  this  department  of  Science. 


LECTURE    II. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  OUR  GLOBE  ASTRONOMICALLY  AND  GEOLOGI- 
CALLY CONSIDERED,  AND  THE  MOSAIC  HISTORY  OF  IT  JUS- 
TIFIED AND  DEFENDED  BY  SCIENCE. 

IF  I  am  diffuse  in  my  remarks,  and  the  chain  of 
argument  appears  protracted  and  attenuated,  my  jus- 
tification is,  in  the  novelty  of  the  positions  I  take, 
and  the  necessity  of  being  very  explicit  in  their  de- 
fence. For  this  reason  I  shall  quote  from  Burritt  a 
condensed  view  of  all  the  various  discoveries  which 
have  been  made  with  regard  to  the  nebulae,  so  that  we 
may  have,  in  one  view  before  us,  every  aspect  of  the 
subject,  which  has  either  a  favorable  or  an  unfavora- 
ble bearing  upon  our  theory. 

"The  nebulae,  so  called  from  their  dim,  cloudy  ap- 
pearance, form  another  class  of  objects  which  furnish 
matter  for  curious  speculation  and  conjecture,  res- 
pecting the  formation  and  structure  of  the  sidereal 
heavens.  When  examined  with  a  telescope  of  mod- 
erate powers,  the  greater  part  of  the  nebulae  are  dis- 
tinctly perceived  to  be  composed  of  little  stars,  im- 
perceptible to  the  naked  eye,  because,  on  account  of 
their  apparent  proximity,  the  rays  of  light  proceeding 
from  each  are  blended  together,  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  produce  only  a  confused  luminous  appearance. 


36  ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE. 

In  other  nebulae,  however,  no  individual  stars  can 
be  perceived,  even  through  the  best  telescopes ;  and 
the  nebulae  exhibit  only  the  appearance  of  a  self- 
luminous  or  phosphorescent  patch  of  gaseous  vapor, 
though  it  is  possible  that  even  in  this  case,  the  ap- 
pearance may  be  owing  to  a  congeries  of  stars  so 
minute,  or  so  distant,  as  not  to  afford,  singly,  suffi- 
cient light  to  make  an  impression  on  the  eye.  In 
some  instances  a  nebulas  presents  the  appearance  of 
a  faint  luminous  atmosphere,  of  a  circular  form,  and 
of  large  extent,  surrounding  a  central  star  of  consid- 
erable brilliancy. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  nebula?  is  in  the  sword 
handle  of  Orion.  It  is  formed  of  little  flocky  mass- 
es, like  wisps  of  cloud,  which  seem  to  adhere  to  ma- 
ny small  stars  at  its  outskirts.  It  is  not  very  unlike 
the  mottling  of  the  sun's  disc,  but  of  a  coarser  grain, 
and  with  darker  intervals.  These  wisps  of  light, 
however,  present  no  appearance  of  being  composed 
of  small  stars  ;  but  in  the  intervals  between  them,  we 
fancy  that  we  see  stars,  or  that,  could  we  strain  our 
'  sight  a  little  more,  we  could  see  them.  These  inter- 
vals may  be  compared  to  openings  in  the  firmament, 
through  which,  as  through  a  window,  we  seem  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  the  heavens,  and  brighter  regions  be- 
yond. 

Another  very  remarkable  nebulas  is  that  in  the  gir- 
dle of  Andromeda,  which,  on  account  of  its  being 
visible  to  the  naked  eye,  has  been  known  since  the 
earliest  ages  of  astronomy.  It  is  often  mistaken  for  n 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  37 

comet,  by  those  unacquainted  with  the  heavens.  Ma- 
rius,  who  noticed  it  in  1612,  describes  its  appearance 
as  that  of  a  candle,  shining  through  horn.  Its  form  is  a 
long  oval,  increasing  by  insensible  gradations  of  bright- 
ness, from  the  circumference  to  a  central  point,  which, 
though  very  much  brighter  than  the  rest,  is  not  a  star, 
but  only  a  nebula?  in  a  high  state  of  condensation. 

No  power  of  vision  hitherto  directed  to  this  nebu- 
lae has  been  able  to  resolve  it  into  the  least  appear- 
ance of  stars.  It  occupies  an  area  comparatively 
large — equal  to  that  of  the  moon  in  quadrature.  This 
nebulae  may  be  considered  as  a  type,  on  a  large  scale, 
of  a  very  numerous  class  of  nebulae,  of  a  round  or 
oval  figure,  increasing  more  or  less  in  density  towards 
the  centre. 

Annular  nebulae  also  exist,  but  are  among  the  rarest 
objects  in  the  heavens.  The  most  conspicuous  of  this 
class,  is  to  be  found  exactly  half-way  between  the 
stars  Beta  and  Gamma  Lyrae,  and  may  be  seen  with  a 
telescope  of  moderate  power.  It  is  small,  and  partic- 
ularly well  denned  ;  appearing  like  a  flat  oval  ring. 
The  central  opening  is  not  entirely  dark,  but  is  filled 
with  a  faint,  heavy  light,  uniformly  spread  over  it,  like 
a  fine  gauze  stretched  over  a  hoop. 

Planetary  nebulae  are  very  extraordinary  objects. 
They  have,  as  their  name  imports,  the  appearance  of 
planets,  with  round  or  slightly  oval  disks,  somewhat 
mottled,  but  approaching,  in  some  instances,  to  the 
vividness  of  actual  planets.  Some  of  them,  upon  the 
supposition  that  they  are  equally  distant  from  us  with 


38  ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE. 

the  stars,  must  be  of  enormous  magnitude.  That  one, 
for  instance,  which  is  situated  in  the  left  hand  of  Aqua- 
rius, must  have  a  volume  vast  enough,  upon  the  low- 
est computation,  to  fill  the  whole  orbit  of  Herschel. 

The  nebulae  furnish  an  inexhaustible  field  of  specu- 
lation and  conjecture.  That  by  far  the  larger  number 
of  them  consists  of  stars,  there  can  be  little  doubt ; 
and  in  the  interminable  range  of  system  upon  system, 
and  firmament  upon  firmament,  which  we  thus  catch 
a  glimpse  of,  the  imagination  is  bewildered  and  lost. 
Sir  William  Herschel,  conjectured  that  the  nebulae 
might  form  the  materials  out  of  which  nature  elabor- 
ated new  suns  and  systems,  or  replenished  the  wasted 
light  of  older  ones.  But  the  little  we  know  of  the 
physical  constitution  of  these  sidereal  masses,  is  alto- 
gether insufficient  to  warrant  such  a  conclusion. 

There  is  a  luminous  zone  or  pathway  of  singular 
whiteness,  varying  from  four  degrees  to  twenty  de- 
grees in  width,  which  passes  quite  round  the  heavens. 
The  Greeks  called  it  Galaxy,  on  account  of  its  color 
and  appearance :  the  Latins,  for  the  same  reason, 
called  it  Via  Lactae,  which,  in  our  tongue,  is  Milky 
Way. 

Of  all  the  constellations  which  the  heavens  exhibit 
to  our  view,  this  fills  the  mind  with  the  most  inde- 
scribable grandeur  and  amazement.  When  we  con- 
sider what  unnumbered  millions  of  mighty  suns  com- 
pose this  cluster,  whose  distance  is  so  vast  that  the 
strongest  telescope  can  hardly  separate  their  mingled 
twilight  into  distinct  specks,  and  that  the  most  con- 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  39 

\iguous  of  any  two  of  them  may  be  as  far  asunder 
as  our  sun  is  from  them,  we  fall  as  far  short  of  ade- 
quate language  to  express  our  ideas  of  such  Immen- 
sity, as  we  do  of  instruments  to  measure  its  bounda- 
ries. It  is  one  of  the  recent  achievements  of  astronomy 
that  has  resolved  the  Milky  Way  into  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  small  stars,  whose  confused  and  feeble  lustre 
occasions  that  peculiar  whiteness  which  we  see  in  a 
clear  evening,  when  the  moon  is  absent.  It  is  also  a 
recent  and  well  accredited  doctrine  of  astronomy,  that 
all  the  stars  in  the  universe  are  arranged  into  clusters, 
or  groups,  which  are  called  Nebulae  or  Starry  Sys- 
tems, each  of  which  consist  of  many  thousand  of 
stars. 

The  fixed  star  which  we  call  our  sun,  belongs,  it 
is  said  to  that  extensive  nebulae,  the  Milky  Way  ;  and 
although  apparently  at  such  an  immeasurable  distance 
from  its  fellows,  is,  doubtless,  as  near  to  any  one  of 
them,  as  they  are  to  one  another. 

Of  the  number  and  economy  of  the  stars  which 
compose  this  group,  we  have  very  little  exact  knowl- 
edge. Dr.  Herschel  informs  us  that,  with  his  best  glass- 
es, he  saw  and  counted  588  stars  in  a  single  spot, 
without  moving  his  telescope  ;  and  as  the  gradual  mo- 
tion of  the  earth  carried  these  out  of  view  and  intro- 
duced others  successively  in  their  places,  while  he 
kept  his  telescope  steadily  fixed  to  one  point,  there 
passed  over  his  field  of  vision,  in  the  space  of  one 
quarter  of  an  hour,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  six- 
teen thousand  stars,  and  at  another  time  in  forty-one 


40  ON    THE    ORIGIN  ON    THE    GLOBE'. 

minutes,  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  forty-eight 
thousand. 

In  all  parts  of  the  Milky  Way  he  found  the  stars 
unequally  dispersed,  and  appearing  to  arrange  them- 
selves into  separate  clusters.  In  the  small  space,  for 
example,  between  Beta  and  Sad'r,  in  Cgyni,  the 
stars  seem  to  be  clustering  in  two  divisions,  each  di- 
vision containing  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  thousand  stars. 

At  other  observations,  when  examining  a  section 
of  the  Milky  Way,  not  apparently  more  than  a  yard 
hi  breadth,  and  six  in  length,  he  discovered  fifty  thou- 
sand stars,  large  enough  to  be  distinctly  counted  ;  and 
he  suspected  thrice  as  many  more,  which,  for  want  of 
sufficient  light  in  his  telescope,  he  saw  only  now  and 
then.  It  appears  from  numerous  observations  that 
various  changes  are  taking  place  among  the  nebulae , 
that  several  nebula?  are  formed  by  the  dissolution  of 
larger  ones  and  that  many  nebulae  of  this  kind  are  at 
present  detaching  themselves  from  the  Milky  Way. 
In  that  part  of  it  which  is  in  the  body  of  Scorpio., 
there  is  a  large  opening,  4  degrees  broad,  almost  des- 
titute of  stars.  These  changes  seem  to  indicate  that 
mighty  movements  and  vast  operations  are  continually 
going  on  in  the  distant  regions  of  the  universe,  upon 
a  scale  of  magnitude  and  grandeur  which  baffles  the 
human  understanding. 

More  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  nebulae  have 
already  been  observed ;  and,  if  each  of  them  contains 
as  many  stars  as  the  Milky  Way,,  several  hundreds  of 


ON    THE    ORIGIN   OF    THE    GLOBE.  41 

millions  of  stars  must  exist,  even  within  that  portion 
of  the  heavens  which  lies  open  to  our  observations  : 

"  O  what  a  confluence  of  etherial  fires, 

From  urns  unnumber'd  down  the  steep  of  heaven 

Streams  to  a  point,  and  empties  on  the  sight*11 

Although  the  Milky  Way  is  more  or  less  visible  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year,  yet  it  is  seen  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage during  the  months  of  July,  August,  Septem- 
ber, and  October.  When  Lyras  is  on,  or  near  the 
meridian,  it  may  be  seen  stretching  obliquely  over  the 
heavens  from  northeast  to  southwest,  gradually  mov- 
ing over  the  firmament  in  common  with  other  con- 
stellations. 

Its  form,  breadth  and  appearance  are  various,  in 
different  parts  of  its  course.  In  some  places  it  is 
dense  and  luminous ;  in  others,  it  is  scattered  and 
faint.  Its  breadth  is  often  not  more  then  five  degrees  ; 
though  sometimes  it  is  ten  or  fifteen  degrees,  and  even 
twenty.  In  some  places  it  assumes  a  double  path, 
but  for  the  most  part  single.  There  are  several  other 
nebulae  in  the  heavens  as  large  as  the  Milky  Way, 
not  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  which  may  exhibit  the 
phenomenon  of  a  lucid  zone  to  the  planetary  worlds 
that  may  be  placed  within  them." 

Having  quoted  above,  all  the  discoveries  of  astron- 
omers respecting  the  nebulae,!  am  aware  that  the  ob- 
jection will  here  be  strongly  urged  against  the  views 
we  have  taken,  that,  since  a  proportion  of  their  ex- 
panse has  been  resolved  into  stars,  the  whole  might, 
therefore,  be.  But  some  of  them,  be  it  remembered, 
which  are  apparently  as  much  within  the  ken  of  the 
3* 


2  ON    TtiE    ORIGIN  OF    TfcE    GLOSfi. 

telescope,  as  others,  have  remained  irresolvable,  and, 
before  the  power  of  the  best  glasses  that  have  ever 
been  invented  or  constructed,  have  presented  nothing 
but  a  hazy,  vaporous  luminousness,  and,  doubtless, 
will  forever  continue  to  present  such  an  appearance, 
being  in  reality,  utterly  irresolvable.  We  must  reason 
from  the  facts  which  the  discoveries  of  science  have 
actually  given  us  and  not  from  any  conjectured  facts 
which  some  future  scientific  discoveries  may  peradven- 
ture  bring  to  light. 

Now  these  irresolvable  nebulae,  which,  by  some 
mysterious  attraction  are  mostly  drawn  to  a  certain 
section  of  the  universe  and  there  form  a  luminous  belt 
or  zone  of  enormous  circumference,  may,  as  I  have  al- 
ready observed,  be  the  decomposed  material  of  lost 
systems,  "out  of  which,"  as  Herschell  very  properly 
remarks  in  the  extract,  which  we  have  quoted,  "  na- 
ture," or  I  would  rather  say  Deity,  "  elaborates  new 
suns  and  systems."  It  is  also  remarked  in  the  same 
extract  that  "several  nebulae  are  formed  by  the  disso- 
lution of  larger  ones,  and  that  many  of  this  kind  are 
detaching  themselves  from  the  Milky  Way." 

Now  this  is  precisely  such  a  phenomenon  as  was 
presented  to  the  universe,  if  our  theory  be  correct;  at 
the  glorious  spectacle  of  which  "  the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 
So  much  of  the  luminous  nebula,  or  light,  as  would  fill 
the  immense  "void"  where  our  system  is  located,  was 
"  detached"  in  the  language  of  the  extract,  and  ordered 


•i>N    fHE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  4 

into  that  space,  where  "  darkness"  dwelt  before,  and 
was  there  ^'elaborated  into  a  new  sxm  and  system." 

And  now,  before  this  theory,  what  becomes  of  the 
-objection,  upon  which  infidels  have  laid  so  much  stress, 
that  light  cou-ld  not  exist  before  the  sun.  It  vanishes 
in  a  moment.  So  then^  here  upon  the  very  ground, 
where  the  objector  to  the  authenticity  and  literality  of 
•Genesis  had  proudly  taken  his -stand,  confident  of  tri- 
umph, the  truth, — never  foiled-^mighty  to  conquer, — 
will  prevail  over  him.  This  very  objection  itself  can 
be  used  against  him  with  irresistible  keenness,  and, 
<c  like  Damascus  blades  without  their  hilts — all  edge" 
— will  wound  him  wherever  he  seizes  hold  of  it. 

The  word  in  the  original  Hebrew,  translated  "  light" 
in  the  third  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  is 
different  altogether  from  that  translated  "  lights"  in 
the  fourteenth,  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  verses  of  the 
same  chapter,  and  which  has  reference  to  the  sun, 
moon  and  planets,  created  upon  the  fourth  day.  The 
two  have  a  different  signification.  The  word  trans- 
lated "  light"  in  the  third  verse  is  "  aour"  in  Hebrew, 
;c  phose"  in  Greek,  and  "  lux"  in  Latin,  which  signi- 
fies light  in  a  state  of  diffusion  rather  than  light  in 
B.  body ;  while  that,  translated  "lights"  in  the  four- 
teenth, fifteenth  and  sixteenth  verses,  is  "  mart"  in 
Hebrew,  "phostares"  in  Greek,  and  "  luminares"  in 
Latin,  which  signify  "  enlighteners^  or  light  con- 
densed into  a  focus,  or  collected  into  a  body  like  the 
sun. 

Now  all  the  supposed  discrepancy  of  Genesis  vanish- 


44  ON    THE    OHIGTN  OF    THE    GLOBE. 

es  in  a  moment  before  a  proper  understanding  of  its 
real  meaning.  The  light  of  the  third  verse  is  not  an 
"enlightener"  in  the  sense  of  "mart" — that  is,  not 
light  in  a  body,  shedding  from  a  concentrated  focus,  it& 
rays  upon  other  bodies  or  other  matter,  but  simply 
light  in  a  diffused  state,  which  it  appears  to  me,  can- 
be  no  other  than  the  floating  nebulous  masses  of  lum- 
inous vapor  or  star-dust  as  I  have  supposed,  and  this 
is  the  "  aowr"  with  which  the  Omnifie  Word  filled 
the  "  deep,"  where  darkness  before  brooded,  when 
"  God  said,  let  there  be  light  and  there  was  light." 

What  now  becomes  of  the  luminous  matter,  thus 
ordered  into  the  space,  occupied  by  our  present  Solar 
System  ?  The  very  next  verse  will  answer  the  ques- 
tion, and  bring  us  one  important  step  nearer  to  the 
consummation  of  our  argument,  and  will,  further, 
prove  conclusively,  that  we  need  no  better  guide,  in 
this  discussion,  than  the  word  itself,  properly  under- 
stood. 

After  God  had  said,  "  let  there  be  light,"  and  the 
great  "  void"  of  the  "  deep"  had  been  filled  up  with 
it,  he  next  does  precisely  what  we  should  suppose  he 
would,  if  our  theory  be  correct.  "  And  God  saw  the 
light  that  it  was  good" — in  amount  and  quality  just 
as  he  would  have  it,  and  just  as  he  had  ordered  it, — 
"  and  God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness." 
Now  what  does  this  remarkable  expression  mean  ; 
for  it  has  a  definite  meaning,  and  a  meaning  very  dif- 
ferent, I  imagine,  from  that  generally  ascribed  to  it  ? 
Was  a  sun  then  created  ?  No.  Was  light  collected 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE,  45 

into  a  body  ?  No  ; — for  that  was  not  done  until  the 
fourth  day.  But  a  separation  is  produced.  Now,  a 
separation  of  what  ?  Why  of  "  light7'  from  "  dark- 
ness." But  what  does  this  singular  expression  mean  ? 
"  Light"  has  no  more  communion  or  union  with 
"  darkness/'  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term 
"darkness,"  than  " Christ  has  with  Belial."  There 
certainly  can  be  no  chemical  combination  whatever 
between  the  two.  simply  in  themselves  considered. 
For  where  light  is,  there  is  no  darkness  at  all,  and 
can  be  none — as  the  term  darkness  is  generally  un- 
derstood. What,  then,  does  this  division — this  sep- 
aration mean, — for,  although  Moses  has  been  sneered 
at,  as  being  ignorant  and  uriphilosophical,  yet  it  may 
eventually  be  satisfactorily  proven,,  that  he  was  far 
more  philosophical  than  his  arrogant  deriders — what, 
then,  I  say,  does  it  mean  ? 

Why,  if  the  material,  with  which  the  "  void"  of 
the  "deep"  was  filled,  was  the  nebulous  vapour  of  the 
skies,  and,  if  that  nebulous  vapour  was  the  material 
of  suns  and  worlds  combined  in  chemical  union  by 
conflagration,  as  we  have  supposed,  then  is  there  a 
wonderful,  most  beautiful  and  philosophical  appropri- 
ateness in  the  language,  and  the  critical  acumen  of 
Moses,  and,  through  him,  of  Eternal  Wisdom,  is  ful- 
ly justified  and  defended  against  the  profane  witicisms 
and  blackguard  sarcasms  of  self-opinionated  fools. 
When  "  God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness," 
he  simply  dissolved  the  connection,  or  chemical  union, 
which  conflagration  had  formed  between  the  two,  by 


i>  Otf    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    CLOSE. 

abstracting  the  caloric  from  the  dark  opaque  mate* 
rial,  with  which  it  had  been  combined.  What  fol- 
lowed1? Why  the  vapour  ceased  to  be  vapour  any 
longer,  as  is  always  the  case  when  caloric  is  abstract- 
ed from  it,  and  so  the  liberated  material  returned  to 
its  native  dark  state,  and  was,  of  course,  immensely 
condensed  from  its  gasseous  condition. 

That  is  the  only  "  division"  indicated  by  the  pas- 
sage, which  I  consider  as  at  all  appropriate,  and  I  am 
unwilling  to  dishonor  the  great  Fountain  of  all  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  so  much,  as  to  concede  for  a  mo- 
ment, that  he  cannot  use  language  quite  as  appropri- 
ately as  the  very  wisest  and  most  learned  of  his  puny 
and  short  sighted  revilers.  The  very  original  Hebrew 
word,  translated  "  divided,"  indicates  just  such  a 
chemical  decomposition  as  we  have  supposed,  for  the 
Lexicon,  in  giving  its  definitions  of  the  word  "  divi- 
ded" refers  to  this  very  verse,  and  construes  it  to 
mean,  "  a  separation  of  things  mixed  together  or 
united"  So  that  the  Mosaic  history  is  carefully  and 
wisely  guarded  against  the  puny  assaults  and  mali- 
cious misinterpretations  of  its  adversaries. 

Was  a  sun  now  made  of  the  caloric  or  light  ?  Not 
yet.  It  was  still  "  aour" —  still  light  unconcentrated 
into  a  focus  —  still  light  in  diffusion.  Almighty  Pow- 
er, for  the  wisest  purposes  —  for  he  does  nothing  in 
vain, — separated,  doubtless,  the  light  to  one  part  of 
the  space,  occupied  by  the  solar  system  —  perhaps  to 
the  centre  —  still  however,  spread  undoubtedly,  judg- 
ing from  the  testimony  in  the  case,  as  well  as  from 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  47 

geological  data,  over  a  vast  area  like  a  nebulae,  as  be- 
fore, yet  more  intense  —  being  free  caloric  —  that  is 
—  being  pure  and  uncombined  — and,  then,  he  dis- 
tributed the  opaque  material,  thus  separated  and  divi- 
ded into  planets,  into  other  parts  of  that  same  space, 
as  he  would  have  them  located,  at  various  and  appro- 
priate distances  from  the  separated  central  light, 
though  as  yet  that  light  was  not  intense  enough  to 
give  them  visibility  by  its  reflection  from  their  opacity. 

And  now  what  occurred  ?  Why,  a  revolution  of 
the  earth  upon  its  axis,  and  probably  of  all  the  other 
planets,  took  place,  which  constituted  the  first  "  day" 
and  "  night"  or  "  the  evening  and  the  morning"  of 
the  "  first  day  ;"  since  it  is  a  conceded  point  among 
all  philosophers,  that  light  controls  the  movements  of 
the  planetary  worlds,  and  if  now,  it  certainly  must 
have  done  it  then. 

Now  I  hold  that  that  revolution,  which  constituted 
the  "  first  day"  was  a  single,  literal  revolution  of  the 
earth  upon  upon  its  axis,  as  I  assumed  at  the  outset 
of  my  argument,  and,  here  we  now  come  to  the  sup- 
posed discrepancy  which  is  urged  to  exist  between 
Geology  and  the  authenticity  and  strict  literality  of 
Genesis  ;  which  supposed  discrepancy  can,  I  believe, 
upon  correct  and  acknowledged  scientific  principles, 
be  fully  shown  to  be  no  discrepancy  at  all. 

At  this  progressive  stage  of  creation,  what  now 
was  the  condition  of  our  earth,  provided  that  our  pre- 
mises and  consequent  deductions  from  them  be  cor- 
rect, when  the  caloric  was  abstracted,  and  its  chemical 


48  ON    THE    ORIGIN   OF    THE    GLOBE. 

union  was  dissolved  by  Almighty  agency  and  it  was 
reduced  from  its  aeriform  condition  ?  This  question 
can  be  satisfactorily  answered  ~by  imagining  what  it 
would  be,  now,  had  its  oceans,  seas,  lakes,  fountains 
and  solid  earth  and  rocks  been  all  vaporized  together 
by  an  amount  of  heat  sufficiently  intense  to  do  it, 
and,  then,  had  that  caloric  been  abstracted  by  any 
means  from  the  resulting  vapor,  and  been  again  con- 
densed from  its  gasseous  condition.  As  the  water  of 
our  globe  far  exceeds  the  amount  of  the  land,  the 
material,  when  condensed  from  vapor  would  have 
been  precisely  in  that  soft,  plastic  condition,  in  which 
both  Geology  and  Genesis  shows  it  to  have  been  at 
its  origin.  Water  and  the  more  solid  particles  of  the 
material  must  have  been  in  a  commingled  and  fluid 
mass,  but  in  the  lapse  of  time,  the  heavier  particles 
would  have  gradually  settled  down  or  ^gravitated  to- 
wards the  centre  of  that  mass,  by  degrees  have  be- 
come solid  there,  and  water,  being  the  lighter  ele- 
ment, must  have  covered  its  entire  surface  to  a  con- 
siderable depth,  and  constituted  one  unbroken  ex- 
panse of  ocean.  Instead  of  conflicting  with  true 
science,  then,  how  beautifully  geological  is  the  M"o- 
saic  history  ;  for,  in  this  view  of  the  suhject,  it  har- 
monizes precisely  with  the  whole  testimony  of  Ge- 
ology. 

Now  in  this  condition  of  things,  what  must  have 
been  the  effect  of  the  "aour"  or  nebulous,  uncon- 
centrated  light  upon  it,  supposing  it  to  have  been  as 
far  removed  from  the  centre  of  that  light,  as  it  now  is 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  49 

from  the  centre  of  our  present  sun  ?  Let  us  make  a 
calculation.  Suppose  that  that  light  was  diffused  over 
a  space  in  bulk  five  or  six  million  times  greater  than- 
that  occupied  by  the  sun-  as  it  now  appears,  which,  it 
must  be  presumed  was  the  case,  both  from  the  facts 
of  Geology  and  Genesis.  Then,  as  light, — by  a 
known  and  invariable  law — diverges  according  to  the 
squares  of  the  distance  in  passing  from  a  luminous 
body,  its  effect,  according  to  this  hypothesis,  in  pro- 
ducing the  motions  of  the  earth  and  the  planets,  must 
have  been  several  million  times  less  intense  upon  them 
than  it  is  now.  And  what  would  have  been  the  neces- 
sary consequence  ?  Why,  the  movement  of  the  earth 
upon  its  axis  must  have  been  exceedingly  slow  and 
scarcely  perceptible.  Provided  that  light  was  several 
million  times  less  intense  upon  the  earth,  as  it  must 
necessarily  have  been,  and,  as  light  is,  most  certainly, 
God's  agent  to  govern  and  control  all  its  motions,  then 
must  it  have  been  several  million  times  longer  in  ma- 
king its  first  rotation  upon  its  axis,  which  constituted 
its  "  first  day,"  than  it  is  at  present.  So  then,  up- 
on this  hypothesis — an  hypothesis  actually  and  surely 
built  upon  the  facts  recorded  in  Genesis,  the  first  ro- 
tation of  the  earth  might  have  been  just  as  many,  and 
was  just  as  many  ages  as  the  facts  of  Geology  indi- 
cate, and  yet  have  constituted  but  a  single,  literal 
"evening  and  morning,"  which  produced  the  " first 
day  "  of  creation. 

After  having,  for  the  sake  of  the  contrast,  quoted 
at  some  length,  the  vague  notions,  which  have  been 


50  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

entertained  by  the  champions  of  Genesis,  as  well  as 
its  antagonists,  I  will  then  show  what  must  have  neces- 
sarily been  the  Geological  formations  of  the  "  first 
day,"  if  our  theory  be  correct. 

The  British  Cyclopedia  makes  the  following  re- 
marks upon  the  subjects  under  discussion,  which  I 
will  here  insert  for  the  sake  of  contrasting  our  views. 

"  The  first  step  in  the  recovery  of  the  earth  from  its 
chaotic  or  desolate  state,  and  the  commencement  of 
the  six  days'  creation,  was  the  production  of  light. 
This  operation  is  expressed  in  the  original  with  a  beau- 
tiful conciseness  which  even  Longinus  has  admired, 
and  better  rendered  by  Wicldiff  than  in  our  transla- 
tion, "  Be  light :  and  light  was."  The  light  here  men- 
tioned, says  a  learned  annotator,  (Dr.  Geddes,)  may 
readily  be  conceived  to  have  been  a  partial  incipient 
light,  which  progressively  penetrating  the  dense  at- 
mosphere that  enveloped  the  sea-covered  <3arth,  as  to 
admit  the  clear  and  uninterrupted  sight  of  the  celes- 
tial luminaries.  The  appearance  of  light  three  days 
before  what  some  conceive  to  have  been  the  creation 
of  the  sun  has  occasioned  a  difficulty,  which  indeed 
is  not  easily  resolved  upon  this  hypothesis.  Some,  as 
Dr.  Taylor,  in  his  "  Scripture  Divinity,"  and  the  au- 
thor of  "  Nature  Displayed,"  have  adopted  the  notion 
that  light  is  a  distinct  substance  from  every  other,  and 
that  it  exists  independently  of  the  sun  and  other  lu- 
minous bodies  ;  and  that  these  serve  merely  to  excite. 
Light,  say  they,  exists  in  a  state  of  expansion  or  dif- 
fusion through  the  whole  universe,  and  at  all  times, 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  51 

by  night  as  well  as  by  day ;  and  that,  in  our  system, 
the  sun  is  the  great  exciter,  by  which  the  substance 
of  light  is  impelled,  and  becomes  visible :  and  they 
add,  that  if  no  substance  of  light  previously  existed 
through  the  whole  system,  no  light  would  appear, 
though  ten  thousand  suns  should  at  once  be  placed 
in  our  hemisphere.  Hence  it  is  argued,  that  the  ele- 
ment or  substance  of  light  was  created  on  the  first 
day,  and  that  the  divine  power  alone  might  be  the  ex- 
citer, which  made  the  light  appear  for  the  three  first 
days  of  creation,  until  the  sun,  the  instrumental  ex- 
citer was  produced.  "  God,"  says  the  author,  "was  the 
parent  of  light,  and  it  was  created  by  his  almighty  fiat, 
before  there  was  a  sun  to  dart  it  over  one  part  of  the 
earth,  and  a  moon  to  reflect  it  on  the  other."  (See 
also  Patrick  on  Genesis  i.  3,  &c.)  But  waiving  any 
remarks  on  this  hypothesis ;  it  is  more  reasonable  to 
conceive,  as  others  have  done,  that  the  light,  which 
was  made  to  appear  on  the  first  day,  was  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  an  emanation  from  the  same  sun,  pre- 
viously existing,  that  still  enlightens  us  ;  and  which, 
though  it  had  not  yet  appeared  in  its  full  glory,  yet 
shed  sufficient  light  through  the  dense  atmosphere  to 
make  the  surface  of  the  terraqueous  globe  visible. 
This  was  evidently  the  idea  of  Origen,  and  probably  of 
Basil  also.  The  former  affirms  that  no  one  of  a  sane 
mind  can  imagine  that  there  was  an  evening  and 
morning,  during  the  three  first  days,  without  a  sun : 
the  latter  ascribes  the  darkness  that  covered  the  earth, 
before  the  appearance  of  light,  to  the  interposition  of 
a  dense  body." 


52  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

We  shall,  without  stopping  to  comment  at  present, 
continue  our  extracts  upon  the  subjects  under  discus- 
sion from  the  same  authority. 

"Many  absurdities  have  been  charged  both  by  ancient 
and  modern  writers,  upon  the  Mosaic  account  of  cre- 
ation ;  some  of  which,  we  conceive,  might  have  been 
precluded  by  restricting  this  account  to  the  formation 
of  the  creation  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  which  are 
here  mentioned  merely  as  they  bear  relation  to  the 
earth,  and  some  for  its  accommodation.  According  to 
this  interpretation,  the  operation  of  the  fourth  day  was 
not  the  creation  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  but  that 
of  assigning  to  them  their  appropriate  use,  with  res- 
pect to  the  new  formed  earth.  The  whole  passage  de- 
scribing this  operation  may  be  read  from  a  collection 
of  different  copies,  in  the  following  manner,  (v.  14 — 
18): — "Let  there  be  luminaries  in  the  expanse  of  the 
heavens,  to  illuminate  the  earth,  and  to  distinguish  the 
day  from  the  night ;  let  them,  also,  be  the  signals  of 
terms,  times  and  years."  "And  let  them  be  for  lumi- 
naries in  the  expanse  of  the  heavens,  to  illuminate  the 
earth,  (conjectured  to  be  an  interpolation.)  and  so  it 
was.  For  God  having  made  the  two  great  luminaries 
(the  greater  luminary  for  the  regulation  of  the  day,  and 
the  smaller  luminary  for  the  regulation  of  the  night) 
and  the  stars  ;  he  displayed  them  in  the  expanse  of  the 
heavens  to  illuminate  the  earth,  to  regulate  the  day 
and  the  night,  and  to  distinguish  the  light  from  the 
darkness."  Dr  Geddes,  in  a  note  on  v.  14,  "  let  there 
be  luminaries,"  &c.,  observes,  that  it  is  not  necessa- 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE,.  53 

ry  to  suppose  that  these  luminaries,  were  now  first  crea- 
ted. The  text  does  not  say  so,  and  there  are  many 
strong  reasons  for  believing  the  contrary.  The  objec- 
tion that  may  seem  to  arise  from  v.  16,  "God  made 
two  great  lights,"  &c.  in  our  version  has  no  force  but 
what  it  derives  from  theological  systems,  and  an  igno- 
rance of  the  Hebrew  idiom.  To  make  is  often  equiv- 
alent to  appoint  to  a  certain  use  :  the  luminaries,  then, 
may  have  long  existed,  and  most  probably  did  long 
exist  before  this  period ;  although  now,  for  the  first 
time,  they  shone  forth  in  their  full  splendor  on  this 
little  world  of  man.  The  opinion  above  stated,  was 
maintained  not  only  by  the  most  learned  of  the  Jew- 
ish rabbins,  but  by  the  most  learned  of  the  Christian 
writers.  Origen  affirms,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
that  "no  man  of  a  sound  mind  can  imagine,  that  there 
were  an  evening  and  a  morning,  during  the  first  three 
days,  without  a  sun."  St.  Basil  ascribed  the  darkness 
that  covered  the  earth,  before  the  appearance  of  light, 
to  the  interposition  of  an  opaque  body  between  it  and 
the  heavens.  In  this  simple  hypothesis,  the  whole 
Hebrew  cosmogony  is  clear  and  consistent.  It  is  plain 
that  the  light,  if  it  emanated  from  the  sun,  or  were  ex- 
cited by  the  sun,  could  not,  even  imperfectly,  illumin- 
ate more  than  one  half  of  the  world  at  once  ;  and  while 
that  half  was  illuminated,  the  other  would  remain  in 
darkness  ;  and  this  is  fitly  called  "  separating  the  light 
from  the  darkness,"  namely,  by  that  ever-changing 
boundary  the  "  horizon."  But  in  order  to  move  this 
boundary  and  to  carry  alternate  light  and  darkness  to 


54  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

every  part  of  the  globe,  it  was  necessary  either  to  make 
the  sun  revolve  gradually  round  the  earth,  cr  the  earth 
to  turn  gradually  round  its  own  supposed  axis  toward 
the  sun ;  which  latter  motion  we  now  know  to  be  the 
fact.  Light  being  thus  separated  from  darkness  by  the 
aforesaid  ideal  boundary,  they  would  follow  one  anoth- 
er without  interruption,  and  produce  successively  those 
vicissitudes  which  we  call  "  day"  and  "  night,"  two 
other  terms,  only,  for  "  light"  and  ''darkness  ;"  and  the 
former,  being  justly  considered  as  the  principal  and 
most  precious  portion  of  time,  an  entire  revolution  of 
light  and  darkness  was  denominated  "one  day ;"  the 
"  evening"  being  the  term  of  "  light,"  and  the  morn- 
ing" the  term  of  "  darkness." 

By  the  "  six  days,"  in  which  the  work  of  creation 
is  said  to  have  been  performed,  the  generality  of  crit- 
ics and  commentators  have  understood,  literally  and 
strictly,  so  many  days.  Some  of  them  have  understood 
as  many  years  ;  some,  in  order  to  favor  a  slow  pro- 
gressive creation,  have  made  one  day  a  period  of  1000 
years  ;  and  others,  again,  have  thought  the  creation  of 
the  world  to  have  been  instantaneous,  and  that  the 
number  of  days  mentioned  by  Moses  is  intended  only 
to  assist  our  conception,  who  are  best  able  to  think  of 
things  in  the  order  of  succession.  It  has  also  been 
supposed,  that  the  distribution  of  the  work  of  creation 
into  six  days,  followed  by  a  day  of  rest,  was  designed 
to  enforce  the  observance  of  a  weekly  sabbath,  both 
as  a  day  of  religious  worship,  and  as  a  day  of  solacing 
repose  to  the  human,  and  even  to  the  brute  creation. 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  55 

Many  among  the  ancients  and  moderns  have  ob- 
jected to  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  cosmogony  of 
Moses.  Whilst  it  has  been  a  source  of  doubts  and 
difficulties  to  the  best  commentators,  it  has  furnished 
occasion  of  indecorous  and  misapplied  raillery  and  rid- 
icule to  the  enemies  of  revealed  religion  in  all  ages. 
Eusebeus,  by  way  of  apology  for  the  Mosaic  account 
of  creation,  says,  (Presp.  Evang.  I.  ii.  7,)  "  that  it  was 
not  Moses'  intention  to  give  a  philosophical  account 
of  the  formation  of  the  world,  but  to  signify  only,  that 
it  did  not  exist  of  itself,  or  by  chance,  but  was  the 
production  of  an  all-wise  and  powerful  Creator." 
Cyril  makes  a  similar  reply  to  the  scoffs  of  Julian, 
"  that  Moses'  view  was  to  accommodate  his  story  to 
the  ignorance  of  the  Jews ;  not  to  reason  accurately 
on  the  origin  of  things,  but  to  show  that  there  was  one 
God  who  created  them  all."  (Julian,  Oper.  and  Cyril 
Contr.  Vol.  ii,  1,  3,  p.  50,  &e.,  Ed.  Leps.)  Philo, 
(Cosmop.  1.  i,  torn,  i,  p.  123,)  calls  it  a  "  piece  of 
rustic  simplicity  to  imagine  that  God  really  employed 
the  labor  of  six  days  in  the  production  of  things  ;  "  in 
which  he  is  followed  by  Origen,  Austin,  Ambrose,  &c. 
Accordingly,  several  ancient  writers  have  adopted  an 
allegorical  interpretation.  Josephus,  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  his  "Jewish  Antiquities,"  intimates,  "that  the 
story  of  the  creation  was  of  the  allegoric  kind."  Phi- 
lo is  evidently  of  the  same  opinion.  Among  the  mod- 
erns, and  especially  among  those  who  have  been  re- 
ferred to  the  class  of  sceptical  writers,  the  same  alle- 
gorical interpretation  has  generally  been  adopted. — 


56  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

SeeBlunt's  "Oracles  of  Reason.;"  Tolland's  «  Pan- 
theistican  ;  "  and  "  Letters  to  lerena  ;  "  Burnett's 
«  Archaeologia,"  (1.  ii,  c.  7,9;)  Middleton's  "Essay 
on  the  Allegorical  and  Literal  Interpretation  of  the 
Creation  and  Fall  of  Man,"  in  his  "  works,"  vol.  ii, 
p.  123 — 126,  and  his  "  Examination  of  Sherlock's 
discourse  on  Prophecy,"  in  his  "  works,"  vol.  iii,  p. 
192,  &c.  Dr.  Burnett,  in  particular,  maintains  that 
the  Mosaic  account  was  merely  a  fable,  though,  ac- 
cording to  this  representation  of  it,  a  fable  too  absurd 
for  a  wise  man,  and  much  more  for  an  inspired  per- 
son to  have  formed.  But  surely  there  can  be  no  rea- 
son for  admitting  this  hypothesis,  it  the  literal  inter- 
pretation be  capable  of  a  philosophical  explanation  . 
more  especially  as  Moses  does  not  inform  us  where 
his  fable  ends,  and  where  his  true  history  begins,  and 
as  Christ  and  his  Apostles  refer  to  the  slory  of  the  cre- 
ation and  that  of  the  fall  (see  fall,)  inseparably  con- 
nected with  it,  not  as  an  allegory,  but  true  history. 
2  Cor.  iv,  6  ;  xi,  15.  1  Cor.  xv,  45.  Matt,  xix,  4,  5. 
1  Tim.  ii,  13,  14.  1  Cor.  xi,  9.  Besides,  it  is  not 
very  natural  to  suppose  that  God  would  so  solemnly, 
from  Mount  Sinai,  make  the  circumstances  of  a  fable 
the  foundation  of  the  fourth  commandment.  Exod. 
xx,  11.  Heb.  iv,  3,  4. 

A  late  biblical  critic  (see  Dr.  Geddes'  critical  re- 
marks, vol.  1,)  rejects  both  the  literal  narration  and 
the  pure  allegory,  and  alleges  that  the  Mosaic  account 
is  a  most  beautiful  mythos,  or  philosophical  fiction, 
contrived  with  great  wisdom,  dressed  up  in  the  garb 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  57 

of  real  history,  adapted  to  the  shallow  intellects  of  a 
rude  barbarous  nation,  and  perfectly  well  calculated 
for  tlie  great  and  good  purposes  for  which  it  was  con- 
trived ;  namely,  to  establish  the  belief  of  one  supreme 
God  and  Creator,  in  opposition  to  the  various  and 
wild  systems  of  idolatry  which  then  prevailed ;  and  to 
enforce  the  observance  of  a  periodical  day  to  be  chiefly 
devoted  to  the  service  of  that  Creator,  and  the  sola- 
cing repose  of  his  creatures.  In  fact,  says  this  wri- 
ter, what  stronger  motive  could  be  urged  to  preserve 
a  people  from  idolatry,  than  by  showing,  in  so  minute 
a  detail,  that  all  the  worship-objects  of  the  surround- 
ing nations  were  themselves  but  mere  creatures,  the 
great  celestial  luminaries  (most  probably  the  first  ob- 
jects of  adoration,)  not  excepted  ?  He  had,  no  doubt, 
particularly  in  view  the  idolatry  of  Egypt ;  where,  as 
Bassent  elegantly  says,  "  Tout  etoit  Dieu,  excepte  Dieu 
meme  ;  et  cete  Terre,  qu'il  avoit  fait,  poury  manifes- 
ter  sa  gloire,  sembloit  etre  devenue  un  temple  d'- 
Idoles."  (Disc.  sur.  1.  Hist.  Univ.)  Beside  the  sun* 
moon,  and  stars,  they  adored  the  fishes  of  the  sea  - 
the  birds  of  the  air,  the  animals  of  the  earth,  and  even 
the  herbs  of  the  field,  radishes,  leeks  and  onions. — 
"  O  sanctas  gentes :  quibus  haec  nascuntur  in  hortis 
Numina! " 

It  was  then  of  the  utmost  importance  to  persuade 
the  Israelites,  who  had  during  their  stay  in  Egypt, 
been  more  or  less  contaminated  by  those  idolatrous 
rites,  that  every  plant  of  the  field,  fish  of  the  sea,  bird 
of  the  air,  and  beast  of  the  earth ;  the  whole  visible 
4 


58  ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE. 

world,  in  short,  was  the  production  of  a  superior  Being, 
to  whom  alone  divine  worship  could  be  due.  In  par- 
ticular by  the  great  quadrupeds  and  the  great  sea-mon- 
sters, it  is  supposed  that  he  alluded  in  the  former,  to 
the  worship  of  Apis  in  the  form  of  a  bull,  and  in  the 
latter  to  a  crocodile,  which,  in  some  parts  of  Egypt, 
was  held  in  the  greatest  veneration.  The  hypothesis, 
says  Dr.  Geddes,  of  a  mere  partical  mythos,  histori- 
cally adapted  to  the  senses  and  intellects  of  a  rude 
unphilosophical  people,  will  remove  every  obstacle, 
obviate  every  objection,  and  repel  every  sarcasm  ; 
whether  it  came  from  a  Celsus  or  Prophyry,  a  Julian 
or  a  Frederick,  a  Boulanges  or  a  Bolingbroke. 

As  we  have  already  exceeded  the  proper  bounda- 
ries of  a  single  lecture.  I  shall  defer  to  my  next,  such 
remarks  as  the  last  quotations  may  suggest. 


LECTURE    III. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  OUR  GLOBE  ASTRONOMICALLY  AND  GEOLOG- 
ICALLY CONSIDERED,  AND  THE  MOSAIC  HISTORY  OF  IT 
JUSTIFIED  AND  DEFENDED  BY  SCIENCE. 

Not  having  had  space  in  my  last  lecture  for  com- 
ments upon  the  closing  extracts,  which  I  quoted  for 
the  sake  of  reviewing  some  of  the  singular  opinions 
expressed  in  them  upon  the  subjects  under  discussion, 
I  will  here  recur  to  them  again.  From  them  it  will 
be  forcibly  apparent,  that  learned  men  will  sometimes 
entertain  and  give  utterance  to  most  consummate  phi- 
losophical nonsense,  so  to  speak,  when  struggling  to 
account  for  difficulties,  without  the  proper  data,  from 
which  to  reason,  and  such  a  knowledge  of  facts  and 
analogies,  as  is  indispensable  to  guide  one  correctly 
through  long  chains  of  intricate  deduction  to  legiti- 
mate conclusions. 

The  idea  expressed  in  one  of  the  extracts,  that, 
"  if  10,000  suns  should,  at  once,  be  placed  in  our 
hemisphere,"  "  no  light  would  appear,"  "  unless  the 
substance  of  light  previously  existed  through  the 
whole  system  "  is  a  rare  specimen  of  '-'confusion  worse 
confounded  " — the  grossest  solecism — a  perfect  con- 
tradiction in  terms,  which  no  scholar  would  perpetrate, 
unless  he  had  got  into  an  inextricable  dilemma,  and 
knew  no  other  way  of  getting  out  again.  It  is,  in 


60  Olf  THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

fact,  saying  that  suns  can  exist  without  shedding 
their  rays,  which  is  the  same  as  asserting  the  self  evi- 
dent contradiction  in  terms,  that  light  can  exist  with- 
out light — a  most  heathenish  blunder.  How  infinite- 
ly better  it  is  to  meet  acknowledged  difficulties  fairly 
and  boldly,  as  we  find  them,  and  attempt  to  solve 
them  just  as  we  find  them,  upon  rational  and  com- 
mon sense  principles,  instead  of  perpetrating  such 
puerile  inconsistencies,  or  resorting  to  the  miserable 
subterfuge  of  sophistry. 

But  I  must  defer  any  further  comment  upon  the 
various  unphilosophical  opinions  contained  in  those 
quotations,  until  we  come  to  that  part  of  the  present 
lecture,  where  we  speak  of  the  creations  of  the  fourth 
day,  remarking,  however,  in  the  present  connection, 
that,  before  the  explanation  we  have  made,  many  of 
the  difficulties,  which  have  perplexed  philosophers 
and  have  environed  the  subject,  will  vanish,  and  there 
be  no  necessity  for  resorting  to  absurd  hypotheses  to 
obviate  those  difficulties. 

We  now  come  naturally  to  the  consideration  of  the 
geological  formations  of  the  "  first  day,"  or  to  what 
is  technically  denominated,  the  "  Cambrian  or  Gray- 
wake  and  the  Silurian  systems,"  which  constituted 
the  Primary  fossiliferous  period.  Was  the  condi- 
tion of  things,  which  our  theory  supposed  to  have  ex- 
isted during  the  first  day  of  creation,  congenial  to  the 
production  of  all  those  fossiliferous  remains  and  geo- 
logical phenomena,  which  the  primary  period  reveals, 
for  if  not,  it  cannot  be  sustained,  however  plausible, 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  61 

since,  as  we  have  assumed,  the  facts  of  Revelation 
and  Geology  must  of  necessity,  harmonize,  emanating 
as  they  do,  from  the  same  source  or  authorship  ?  Let 
us  examine  the  subject  and  decide  this  question  ac- 
cording to  the  evidence,  which  may  come  before  us. 

1st.  The  organic  remains  of  the  primary  fossilifer- 
ous  period  are  marine  animals  and  plants,  which  agree 
so  far,  entirely  with  our  view  of  the  oceanic  sub- 
mersion of  our  globe  during  the  first  day. 

2d.  Those  organic  remains  were  the  zoophytic 
tribes  among  the  animals,  and  the  flowerless  plants 
and  algae,  chiefly  or  entirely  marine,  among  the  vege- 
table classes.  Now  these,  both  animal  and  vegetable, 
were  the  very  feeblest  forms  of  life,  but  one  slight 
progression  from  the  condition  of  absolute  inanimate 
substances. 

Nearly  the  whole  zoophytic  tribes,  in  every  variety 
of  their  organization,  were  exceedingly  sluggish  and 
almost  inert,  scarcely  moving  from  the  spot  in  which 
they  were  born  during  the  whole  period  of  their  ex- 
istence. 

Now  let  us  apply  the  test  of  these  facts  to  our  the- 
ory. Was  there  aught  in  our  supposed  primary  con- 
dition of  things,  calculated  to  sustain  and  foster  such 
feeble  life?  Most  certainly.  For  if  animals  and  veg- 
etables require  caloric  to  sustain  them,  as  no  philoso- 
pher who  understands  the  subject  will  deny,  and  if 
the  vigor  and  energy  of  that  life  is,  within  certain  lim- 
ited boundaries,  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  calor- 
ic, as  is  equally  undeniable,  then  is  there  a  definite 


62  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

reason  in  our  theory,  why  the  primary  animal  and  veg- 
etable organizations  should  have  been  so  sluggish  and 
of  such  a  character.  The  light  being,  according  to 
our  hypothesis,  several  million  times  less  intense  upon 
the  globe  than  it  is  now,  would,  of  course,  in  amount, 
be  precisely  calculated  to  foster  and  sustain  just  such  a 
feeble  race  of  animals  and  vegetables  as  existed  du- 
ring the  period  of  the  first  day.  Indeed,  had  the  light 
been  any  more  intense  than  it  then  was,  it  is  presum- 
able that  such  organizations  could  not  have  existed 
exactly  in  the  form  they  then  existed,  but  must,  doubt- 
less, have  perished,  and  that  is  very  probably  the  reas- 
on why  they  became,  in  a  great  measure,  extinct, 
when  light  became  more  intense  or  concentrated. 

3d.  There  is  abundant  evidence,  derived  from  the 
acute  investigations  of  geologists,  that  the  various  or- 
ganizations of  this  period,  which  constituted  its  fossil- 
iferous  petrifactions,  required  a  perfect  quiescence  of 
the  waters  in  which  they  were  generated.  Some  of 
the  champions  of  the  Mosaic  history  "  maintain,"  I 
am  aware,  "  that  the  fossiliferous  rocks  of  the  primary 
formation  were  not  the  result  of  slow  deposition  and 
consolidation,"  but  might  have  been  deposited  by  the 
deluge  of  Noah.  This  supposition  is  not,  however, 
sustained  by  the  facts  in  the  case,  for  there  must  have 
been  a  violent  and  tumultuous  action  of  the  waters  of 
the  globe  during  that  remarkable  convulsion,  "  for  the 
ocean  must  have  flowed  over  the  land  in  strong  cur- 
rents ;  and,  when  it  retired,  urged  on  as  it  was  "  by 
the  resistless  pressure  of  a  gale,  similar  currents  must 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  63 

have  prevailed,  which  must  have  entirely  precluded 
the  possibility  of  such  a  deposition  of  organic  remains, 
as  Geology  reveals,  since  they,  evidently,  required  a 
quiescent  location.  They  were,  doubtless,  deposited, 
then,  during  some  more  favorable  period,  long  pre- 
vious to  the  Noachian  deluge. 

Now  it  is  worthy  of  consideration,  whether  our  the- 
ory concerning  the  condition  of  the  earth  during  the 
first  day,  would  not  be  more  favorable  in  producing 
that  quiescent  state  of  the  waters  which  must  have 
existed  throughout  the  long  lapse  of  time  required  for 
the  deposition  of  the  fossiliferous  rocks  of  the  primary 
formation.  We  think  it  would,  and  for  these  reasons : 

1st.  The  ocean  could  not  have  been  agitated  then 
as  it  is  now,  by  the  rapid  rotation  of  the  earth  upon 
its  axis  every  twenty-four  hours,  causing,  of  necessity, 
changes  of  temperature  and  windy  currents. 

2d.  Another  very  important  reason  why  the  waters 
of  the  ocean  must  have  been  quiescent  is,  the  fact  that 
there  was  no  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the  sun, 
because  there  was,  as  yet,  no  sun.  We  know  that 
the  earth  now  moves  in  its  orbit  at  the  mean  rate  of 
sixty-eight  thousand  miles  in  an  hour.  Being  whirled 
at  such  prodigious  velocity  through  space,  there  must, 
of  necessity,  be  produced  some  agitation  among  the 
fluids  upon  its  surface,  either  by  the  rapidity  of  its 
motion,  or  the  change  of  temperature  and  variable  cur- 
rents of  wind  consequent  upon  it. 

3d.  A  quiescent  condition  of  the  water  must  have 
been  the  result  of  another  fact.  There  were,  undoubt- 


64  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE, 

edly,  no  tides  then  as  there  is  now,  since  the  influence 
of  the  moon,  in  the  production  of  those  tides  could 
not  have  been  the  same  that  it  is  at  present,  as  it  ro- 
tated not  around  the  earth,  and  reflected  not  tiie  light 
of  the  sun  as  it  now  does.  There  could  then  have 
been  no  oceanic  currents  produced  by  this  cause. 

4th.  But  the  most  important  reason  of  all,  and 
one  of  itself  sufficient  to  account  for  the  perfect  qui- 
escent condition  of  the  waters  at  the  geological  period 
of  the  deposition  of  the  fossiliferous  rocks,  is,  the  fact 
that  there  was  no  atmosphere,  and  of  course  no  wind, 
and  therefore,  no  currents  produced  by  wind. 

But  here,  undoubtedly,  will  be  urged  a  serious  ob- 
jection to  our  theory.  It  is  this.  If?  as  we  have  as- 
sumed, the  earth  might  have  been  as  many  thousand 
years  as  the  primary  geological  formations  indicate,  in 
performing  its  first  rotation  on  its  axis,  that  half  of  it 
which  must  have  been  consequently  turned,  for  ages, 
away  from  the  light,  must, — the  objector  will  strongly 
urge — have  been  congealed  to  an  immense  ice-berg. 
But  he  must  recollect  that,  in  drawing  this  conclusion  f 
he  is  reasoning  from  false  premises,  without  the  data 
of  facts  to  sustain  his  argument.  He  reasons,  for  in- 
stance, from  the  present  condition  of  our  globe,  which 
Is  unwarrantable.  Having  ascertained  that  the  oceans 
of  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  regions,  when  turned  away 
from  the  sun  for  six  months  of  the  year,  become  con- 
gealed to  ice-bergs,  he  concludes  that  the  same  must 
be  the  case  with  the  earth  under  the  circumstances- 
which  we  have  supposed  to  exist.  But  he  must  recoi- 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  65 

lect  that  there  is  no  parallel  between  the  two  cases. 
There  was  then  no  rotation  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis 
in  twenty  four  hours  as  now — there  was  no  revolu- 
tion yearly  around  the  sun  to  produce  a  variation  of 
temperature  from  heat  to  cold  or  from  cold  to  heat — 
there  was  no  atmosphere  to  lower  the  temperature  by 
currents  of  wind,  or  to  carry  off  the  caloric  by  evap- 
oration. Besides,  having  been  recently  reduced  to 
its  plastic  condition,  it  was  less  dense  than  it  is  now, 
and,  therefore,  more  pervious  to  heat.  Now  being  in 
this  perfect  quiescent,  and  almost  immoveable  con- 
dition without  any  medium  by  which  caloric  could 
have  been  carried  off,  the  whole  mass  of  waters  must 
have  been  so  completely  pervaded  by  it,  that  its  tem- 
perature must  have  been  nearly  equal  on  all  sides  of 
the  globe,  and  the  half  of  it  which  was  turned  away 
from  the  light,  could  not,  therefore,  have  been  frozen 
by  any  means  to  an  ice-berg,  as  the  objector  supposes. 

Now  here  existed  an  order  of  things,  it  seems  to  me, 
precisely,  and  most  admirably  adapted  to  generate, 
during  the  supposed  long  period  which  intervened  be- 
tween the  creation  and  the  second  day,  all  those  zo- 
ophytic  and  other  forms  of  feeble  life,  which  followed 
each  other  in  a  succession  of  generation  after  genera- 
tion, until  their  remains  were  consolidated  into  the 
fossiliferous  rocks  of  the  Graywake  and  Silurian  sys- 
tems, to  the  depth  of  over  sixteen  thousand  feet. 

Having  no  data,  whereby  to  form  a  correct  judg- 
ment as  to  the  rapidity  of  the  successive  generations 
of  those  primary  forms  of  existence,  no  geologist  is 
*4 


66  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

able  to  decide  positively  as  to  the  length  of  the  period 
required  for  the  production  of  the  primary  fossilifer- 
ous  stratifications.  But  one  thing,  I  think,  is  certain 
—  that  we  have  here  a  perfect  solution  of  the  appa- 
rent discrepency,  which  has  seemed  to  exist  between 
the  Mosaic  history  thus  far  considered,  and  Geology. 
Whether  the  chronological  data  of  the  scientific, 
with  regard  to  the  length  of  time  required  for  the  ge- 
ological formations  of  this  period,  are  correct  or  not, 
remains  yet  to  be  proven.  For  one,  I  am  inclined  to 
think  their  orthodoxy  extremely  problematical.  Since 
commencing  my  investigations  of  this  subject,  with 
reference  to  a  publication  of  their  results,  I  have,  in 
the  course  of  my  reading,  met  with  some  novel  and 
highly  interesting  calculations  upon  the  subject  of 
these  data,  with  which  I  have  been  much  pleased,  and 
which  are  contained  in  a  work  entitled,  "  Letters  on 
Geology,"  by  David  Christy,  Esq.,  who  has  made  ex- 
tensive geological  researches  in  Ohio,  and  in  the  west- 
ern sections  of  the  Union.  I  will  here  insert  his  re- 
marks upon  this  subject  entire. 

"  There  are  many  of  my  friends  who  are  unwilling  to 
think  favorably  of  the  study  of  geology,  because  of  its 
supposed  infidel  tendencies.  These  suspicions  have  been 
strengthened  by  the  writings  of  a  few  doctors  of  divinity, 
who  have  undertaken  to  reconcile  certain  geological  spec- 
ulations with  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation ;  or,  ra- 
ther, who  have  adopted  a  new  rule  of  interpretation  to 
suit  the  geological  theories. 

"  The  vast  thickness  of  the  formations  of  fossil  bearing 
rocks,  some  of  which  are  almost  wholly  composed  of  pe- 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  67 

trifled  sea  shells,  have  led  some  to  suppose  that  many  mil- 
lions of  years  would  be  required  for  the  propagation  and 
accumulation  of  such  immense  quantities  of  organic  re- 
mains, or  beings,  once  possessing  life. 

"  The  common  Bible  chronology  gives  1656  years  from 
the  creation  to  the  deluge.  Doubts,  however,  exist,  as  to 
the  accuracy  of  this  computation,  and  some  prefer  that  of 
the  Septuagint,  which  allows  about  2000  years  to  have 
passed  away  before  that  period. 

"  Geological  researches  have  shown,  that  a  period  of 
comparative  repose  existed  in  the  beds  of  the  ancient 
oceans,  of  sufficient  duration  to  allow  of  the  formation  of 
a  vast  thickness  of  rocky  strata.  [See  Letter  to  M.  de 
VerneuiL]  These  strata  were  produced  by  the  influx  of 
sedimentary  matter  into  the  seas  from  the  rivers  and  coasts, 
and  by  the  propagation  of  the  shells  and  corals  existing 
in  the  ocean,  and  which,  in  the  process,  were  buried  by 
the  sediment,  and  afterward  petrified.  The  strata  of  rocks 
formed  during  this  period  are  the  Silurian,  Devonian, 
and  Carboniferous  formations.  Their  average  thickness 
will  not  exceed  five  miles  in  depth,  and  the  area  covered 
by  them  will  not  equal  more  than  one  half  of  the  land  now 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean. 

"  Now  the  problem  to  be  solved  is  this  :  How  long  would 
it  take  the  causes  in  operation,  in  the  earlier  period  of  the 
world's  history ;  that  is,  the  natural  increase  of  the  sea 
shells  then  living,  together  with  the  sedimentary  matter 
brought  in  constantly  by  rivers  from  the  uplands  and  by 
tides  from  the  coasts,  to  produce  an  extent  of  rocks  equal 
to  the  formations  above  mentioned  ? 

"  I  have  this  object  in  view,  in  instituting  the  inquiry. 
I  wish  to  shew  that  there  is  no  certainty  in  any  geological 
estimates  when  applied  to  time.  The  reason  why  I  make 


63  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE, 

such  a  positive  declaration,  is  because  we  cannot  form  any 
just  conception  of  the  extent  of  the  agencies  which  were 
in  operation  in  the  production  of  the  earlier  secondary 
rocks.  And  we  know  about  as  little  of  the  rate  at  which 
such  formations  may  now  be  accumulating  in  the  depths 
of  the  sea. 

"  I  shall  pass  by  the  quantity  of  sedimentary  matter  re- 
ceived by  the  ocean  from  the  lands,  and  base  my  estimates 
upon  the  shells  alone.  The  formations  above  named,  I 
will  suppose  to  have  been  produced  between  the  creation 
and  the  deluge,  a  period,  say,  of  2000  years.  The  inves- 
tigations in  these  formations  have  discovered  near  three 
thousand  species.  There  are  but  few  of  these  shells  which 
occupy  a  less  space  than  one  tenth  of  a  cubic  inch,  and 
some  of  them  will  equal  a  cubic  inch,  and  others  much 
larger.  Marine  shell-fish  are  known  to  propagate  very 
abundantly  —  indeed,  nearly  equal  to  the  herring. 

"  To  obtain  the  information  I  desired,  I  addressed  a  note- 
to  the  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Miami  University,  T, 
J.  MATTHEWS,  and  have  received  the  following  reply:  . 

«  Question.  Suppose  3000  species  of  animals,  one 
pair  of  each  species  to  commence  bearing  young  after  one 
year,  to  continue  bearing  yearly  for  the  ten.  following  yearsr 
and  all  their  progeny  to  continue  bearing  according  to  the 
same  law,  the  annual  rate  of  increase  being  ten  for  each 
pair,  what  will  be  their  number  at  the  end  of  2000  years  ; 
and  how  many  cubic  miles  (if  they  be  supposed  to  be  shell 
fish,)  will  they  occupy,  supposing  each  one  to  be  one  tenth 
of  a  cubic  inch  in  magnitude  ? 

« The  object  of  this  question,  I  understand  to  be,  to  as- 
certain whether  the  vast  amount  of  fossil  remains,  disclo- 
sed by  geological  researches,  can  be  accounted  for,  by  any 
reasonable  rate  of  increase,  within  a  period  of  2000  years. 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE-  69 

*  In  order  to  meet  this  object,  it  is  not  necessary  to  cal- 
culate the  result  of  the  above  question,  by   including  all 
the  particulars  there  given.     I  shall,  therefore,  state  the 
question  as  follows  : 

*  Suppose  one  female  to  bear^zt'e  young  for  one  year, 
and  then  cease  bearing,  each  one  of  the   progeny  bearing 
according  to  the  same  law  for  2000  years,  what  will  be 
their  number?  &c. 

4  It  is  well  known  that  the  expression  for  the  sum  of  a 
geometrical  series,  is, 

N=.r-l 
r—  1 

when  N.  is  the  number,  or  sum  of  the  series,  r,  the  ratio? 
or  rate  of  increase,  and  n,  the  number  of  terms. 
For  the  present  question,  this  formula  becomes, 

2000  2000 


r          5—1       6—1 

omitting  the  unit  in  the  numerator  as  inconsiderable  ;  there- 
fore, 

log.  N=2000.  log.  5-—  log.  4. 
Therefore,  log.  N  =1397.33794,  and 

N=21775000,  &c.,  to  1398  places  of  figures. 
1  If  each  occupy  one  tenth  of  a  cubic  inch  of  space, 
the  number  contained  in  a  cubic  mile  will  be  expressed  in 
sixteen  places  of  figures  ;  dividing  the  whole  number  of 
shells  by  the  number  contained  in  a  cubic  mile,  will  give 
the  number  of  cubic  miles  occupied  by  the  whole  number. 
Now  a  number  consisting  of  1398  places  of  figures,  divi- 
ded by  a  number  consisting  of  sixteen  places  of  figures, 
gives  a  number  containing  1382  places  of  figures.  To 
write  this  number  down  would  require  nearly  one  page  of 


70  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

foolscap  paper  ;  to  numerate  it  would  be  next  to  impossi- 
ble ;  to  conceive  of  it  would  be  quite  impossible. 

1  If  we  wish  to  ascertain  the  cubic  space  in  cubic  miles  ; 
that  is,  the  length,  breadth,  and  height,  of  the  whole  space, 
in  linear  miles,  considering  it  as  a  cube,  or  having  equal 
sides,  divide  1398  by  3,  and  the  quotient,  466,  is  the  num- 
ber of  places  of  figures  representing  the  miles  in  each 
side.  Now  a  billion  is  expressed  by  ten  figures ;  divide 
466  by  10,  and  46  will  be  the  number  of  repetitions  of 
billions  ;  that  is,  the  number  of  miles  in  each  side,  will  be 
billions  of  billions  of  billions  of  billions,  repeated  46  times. 

1  Of  course  the  above  calculation  takes  no  account  of 
the  philosophical  question  as  to  how  much  of  the  shelly 
matter  of  one  generation  may  be  redissolved,  and  go  to 
the  formation  of  succeeding  generations.  The  question  is 
answered  in  its  strict  and  literal  sense,  supposing  each  in- 
dividual to  be  formed  of  matter  furnished  by  the  great  re- 
servoir of  the  ocean,  independent  of  all  others.' 

"  Having  received  the  above  lucid  statement,  and  its  re- 
sults having  been  much  beyond  what  I  conceived  would 
be  the  bulk  in  the  time  specified,  I  addressed  another  note 
to  the  Professor,  asking  him  to  state  the  number  of  cubic 
miles  in  the  earth,  and  its  comparative  size  to  the  cubic 
miles  in  the  above  calculation.  His  reply  follows  : 

*The  diameter  of  the  earth  being  7912  miles,  the  num- 
ber of  cubic  miles  contained  in  it,  is  259,333,411,700,  a- 
bout,  and  the  number  of  such  globes  contained  in  the  space 
occupied  by  the  shells  would  be  expressed  by  1382 — 12= 
1370  places  of  figures.' 

"  It  should  be  particularly  noticed  that  this  estimate  takes 
but  one  species,  instead  of  three  thousand,  the  true  num- 
ber ;  that  one  tenth  of  a  cubic  inch  is  much  below  the 
average  size ;  and,  also,  that  an  increase  of  five  for  one 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  71 

year  only,  instead  of,  perhaps,  one  hundred  for  ten  years, 
reduces  the  estimate  low  enough  to  satisfy  any  one.  And 
yet  the  results  are  astounding.  The  cubic  miles  in  the 
earth  are  expressed  by  twelve  figures.  The  natural  in- 
crease of  one  species  alone,  at  the  rate  above  stated,  in 
2000  years,  produces  a  mass  of  matter  which  would  make 
as  many  billions  of  worlds,  as  large  as  the  earth,  as  is  ex- 
pressed, not  by  12  places  of  figures,  which  is  the  size  of 
the  earth,  but  by  1370  places  of  figures." 

We  have  dwelt  minutely  upon  the  fossiliferous  for- 
mations of  the  primary  period,  because  here,  mainly, 
the  Mosaic  account  of  creation  has  been  supposed  to 
conflict  with  the  facts  of  Geology.  Having  done  so, 
there  will  be  no  necessity  for  dwelling,  with  such  mi- 
nuteness, upon  the  history  of  the  remaining  days, 
we  shall  therefore  consider  them  much  more  briefly. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  of  creation  was  the 
production,  by  the  Almighty,  of  the  expanse,  or  at- 
mosphere, which  surrounds  the  Earth.  This  must 
have  vastly  changed  the  previous  condition  of  the 
globe.  There  was  now  a  medium  for  evaporation, 
and  a  new  element,  upon  which  the  vapors  could  be 
borne  and  the  clouds  formed,  which  existed  not  dur- 
ing the  first  day.  The  waters  of  the  globe  must  now 
have  become  more  agitated  than  before, — the  tem- 
perature of  the  atmosphere,  being  necessarily  varia- 
ble, must  have  begun  to  produce  currents  of  wind, 
—  these  must  have  disturbed  the  former  quiescence 
of  the  water  —  and  the  consequence  must  have  been 
the  extinction  of  many  of  the  previous  forms  of  life, 


72  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

which  accords  exactly  with  the  discovered  facts  of 
Geology.  But  the  places  of  these  extinguished  ex- 
istences were  supplied  by  the  creation  of  new  orders 
of  being,  adapted  to  the  changed  condition  of  the 
globe. 

Another  important  result  was  produced  by  the 
creation  of  this  new  element.  As,  according  to  com- 
putation, the  atmosphere  extends  forty-five  miles 
above  the  earth,  it  became  a  medium  to  sustain  a  vast 
amount  of  vapor,  which  was  now  to  be  separated 
from  the  waters  of  the  Ocean,  so  that  their  amount 
might,  thereby,  be  lessened,  and  the  dry  land  the 
sooner  appear. 

The  period  of  this  creation  constituted  the  even- 
ing and  morning  of  the  "  second  day"  which  was  a 
literal  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  axis,  but  yet 
another  immense  period  of  time  —  one  as  long  as 
Geology  indicates, —  for  not  yet  was  the  light  gather- 
ed into  the  focal  intensity  of  a  sun,  although  that  light 
might  have  been  much  more  concentrated  than  du- 
ring the  first  day,  which  the  fossiliferous  formations 
of  this  period  indicate,  and  it  would,  therefore,  have 
been  shorter  than  the  first  day  though  very  long. 

,  On  the  third  day  the  waters  of  the  Globe  were  col- 
lected together  into  separated  oceans,  seas,  and  lakes, 
and  the  dry  land  was  made  to  appear,  very  probably 
by  the  upheaving  of  its  submerged  surface  into  heights 
or  mountains,  by  the  action  of  subterranean  fires  or 
chemical  agencies,  which  had  been  generated  during 
the  immense  period  of  the  two  previous  days,  leaving 


ON    THE    ORIGIN  OF    THE    GLOBE.  73 

corresponding  cavities  for  the  water.  And  now  grass, 
and  trees,  and  fruit,  were  produced,  but  the  light  was 
not  yet  formed  into  a  sun,  although  the  geological  for- 
mations of  this  period  indicate  a  still  greater  conden- 
sation than  heretofore. 

Now  the  caviler  may  affect  to  scofY  at  the  gradual 
condensation  of  light,  but  if  he  does  he  scoffs  also  at 
some  of  the  well  attested  discoveries  of  Astronomy. 
Sir  William  Herschel  draws  the  conclusion,  from  cer- 
tain appearances  in  the  heavens,  that  the  detached 
masses  of  nebulse  are,  in  some  cases,  assuming,  very 
slowly,  but  surely,  a  more  and  more  globular  and  con- 
centrated form,  as  though  new  suns  and  systems  were 
in  the  process  of  formation. 

On  the  fourth  day  God  completely  condensed  the 
light  into  the  focal  intensity  of  our  present  sun.  Then, 
for  the  first  time,  the  Moon,  and  Venus,  and  Mars, 
and  Jupiter,  and  Saturn,  and  all  the  other  planets  of 
the  Solar  System,  which  had  before  been  invisible, 
on  account  of  the  feebleness  of  the  light,  flashed  out 
into  visibility  as  though  they  had  for  the  first  time 
been  created,  and  commenced  their  diurnal  and  an- 
nual revolutions  which  have  since  been  maintained 
with  such  perfect  and  undeviating  regularity  in  ac- 
cordance with  those  physical  laws  which  were  then 
established  by  the  Almighty. 

Having  thus  passed  through  with  our  examination 
of  the  progress  of  the  first  four  days  of  creation  and 
considered  the  effect  of  a  gradual  condensation  of 
light  into  the  focal  intensity  of  our  sun,  we  are  willing 


74  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

to  contrast  our  views  upon  this  subject  with  the 
various  and  conflicting  opinions  which  appear  in  the 
quotations  we  have  made  from  the  British  Cyclope- 
dia. Upon  our  hypothesis  we  need  not  make  the  re- 
ply that  Cyril  makes  to  the  scoffs  of  Julian  "  that  Mo- 
ses' view  was  to  accommodate  his  story  to  the  igno- 
rance of  the  Jews ;  not  to  reason  accurately  on  the 
origin  of  things,"  nor  need  we  like  Philo  call  it  a 
"  piece  of  rustic  simplicity  to  imagine  that  God  real- 
ly employed  six  days  in  the  production  of  things  ;"  nor 
need  we  yet  with  Dr.  Geddes  consider  "  that  the  Mo- 
saic account  was  a  most  beautiful  mythos  or  philoso- 
phical fiction."  For  we  think  that  any  unprejudiced 
mind  must  conclude  that  upon  this  hypothesis  the  phi- 
losophy of  Moses  was  quite  as  sound  and  rational  as 
that  of  a  Newton,  a  Locke,  or  any  other  sage  that 
has  existed  or  written  since  his  day. 

And  now,  as  the  earth  had  previously  been  pre- 
pared for  it,  and  as  the  light  had  become  sufficiently 
intense  to  produce  vegetation,  God  created  upon  the 
fifth  day,  all  the  various  races  of  beasts,  birds,  and 
fishes,  which  now  exist  upon  the  globe,  and  which, 
according  to  Geology,  took  the  place  of  many  of  those 
modes  of  organic  life  which  had  previously  existed, 
and  which  had,  one  after  another,  become  extinct,  as 
the  several  successive  changes  occurred  in  the  pro- 
gressive organization  of  the  earth,  which  extinguished 
forms  of  life  constituted  the  remainder  of  those  fossil- 
iferous  depositions  existing  in  the  rocky  stratifica- 
tions of  the  globe  not  heretofore  considered  in  our  ar- 
gument. 


ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE.  75 

To  crown  the  whole  amazing  work  of  creation,  on 
the  sixth  day  God  completed  his  work  by  the  creation 
of  Man  in  his  own  image,  whom  he  endowed  with 
rational  faculties  and  constituted  Lord  of  this  new  and 
beautiful  province  of  his  universal  empire. 

I  have  carried  out  my  argument  thus  far  to  show 
that  Genesis  may  be  both  authentic  and  literal,  and 
yet  most  perfectly  harmonize  with  all  the  known  facts 
of  Geology,  and  I  must  here  express  my  deep  and  un- 
wavering conviction  that  in  no  other  way  can  they 
possibly  be  so  harmonized. 

One  thing  is  apparent  from  our  investigation  of  this 
subject,  which  we  will  notice  before  closing.  Grad- 
ual progression  was  the  order  of  creation,  and  seems 
to  be  the  established  order  of  all  God's  works.  He 
has  thus  shown  us  that  he  accomplishes  his  purposes 
by  means,  and  that,  in  the  production  of  every  event, 
there  is  chained  together  a  certain  train  of  dependent 
antecedents  and  consequents.  As  we  have  seen  in 
creation,  by  a  certain  progressive  process  of  six  days, 
the  Almighty  brought  into  existence  that  part  of  the 
material  universe  with  which  we  are  conversant.  The 
spirit  of  God  moved,  as  we  suppose,  with  energizing 
power  upon  the  nebulous  masses  of  the  sky.  At  the 
command  of  the  Eternal,  light  was  poured  upon  the 
formless  "  void  "  of  the  "  deep."  The  dark,  chaotic 
mass  of  material  substance  was  separated  to  its  ap- 
pointed destination.  From  the  basis  of  that  mass  of 
matter  there  arose,  then,  by  degrees,  into  beauty,  or- 
der, and  magnificent  vastness,  this  globe  and  her  sis- 


76  ON    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    GLOBE. 

ter  planets.  The  nether  firmament  was  spread  out 
between  the  clouds  and  the  deep,  and  the  buoyant  at- 
mosphere was  formed  to  sustain  the  floating  vapors : 
—  visibility  was  given  to  the  dry  land,  arid  the  hills 
and  valleys  and  landscapes  were  clothed  with  blos- 
soms and  fruits  and  vegetation.  The  sun  was,  on  the 
fourth  day,  collected  together  into  one  mass  of  burn- 
ing glory,  and  hung  out  like  an  immense  ocean  of  fire 
in  the  vault  of  the  sky.  The  moon  and  the  stars 
were  located  around  it,  so  as  to  reflect  its  radiance 
with  diminished  intensity.  Streamlets,  rivers,  and 
oceans  were  filled  with  living  substances.  .Flocks  and 
herds  were  "scattered  over  a  thousand  hills :"  and 
finally,  to  crown  the  whole,  Man,  the  almost  angelic 
proprietor  of  this  uncursed,  beauteous,  green  earth, 
was  introduced  into  the  fragrant  groves  and  arbors  of 
Eden. 


LECTURE   IV. 

THE  TRUTH  OF  THE   NOACHIAN   DELUGE  PROVED  BY  HIS* 
TORY,  ASTRONOMY,  GEOLOGY  AND  REASON. 

Our  investigations  have,  thus  far,  in  this  series  of 
lectures,  been  confined  to  that  grand  and  stupendous 
event,  the  progressive  and  wonderful  origination,  by 
the  great  Omnipotent,  of  this  Globe  and  its  associat- 
ed solar  system.  Assuming,  at  the  outset,  the  phil- 
osophical and  rational  ground,  that,  as  God  is  the 
author  of  nature  as  well  as  of  revelation,  every  known 
fact  of  physical  science  is,  therefore,  of  necessity,  just 
as  true,  and  just  as  worthy  of  credence,  as  every  re- 
corded fact  of  revalation,  I  undertook,  by  a  chain  of 
deductions  from  certain  premises,  sustained  by  anal- 
ogical allusions  and  inferences,  derived  from  physical 
science,  to  defend  the  truth  of  the  latter,  from  the 
virulent  assaults  of  scepticism,  without  denying  any 
one  of  the  well  attested  facts  of  the  form.er,  and  en- 
deavoured, as  much  as  possible,  to  harmonize  the  two 
completely,  as  they  do  most,  assuredly  harmonize  in  re- 
ality. How  far  I  have  been  able  to  succeed  in  that 
attempt,  I  shall  now  leave  to  the  judgment  of  the 
candid  and  unprejudiced  reader.  There  is  yet  before 
me  another  important  field  of  controversy.  Not  onlv 
have  the  bitter  enemies  of  truth  and  advocates  of  sub- 


78  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

tie  error  attempted  to  sneer  at,  and  bring  into  ridicule 
the  Mosaic  history  of  the  origin  of  the  earth  and  the 
solar  system,  but  they  have  entered  another  enclosure 
of  consecrated  ground,  and  entrenched  themselves 
there,  and  have  there  opened  their  batteries  against  the 
authenticity  of  revelation,  and  have,  from  their  en- 
trenchments, hurled  at  the  champions  and  defenders 
of  truth  their  darts,  dipped  in  a  venom  more  virulent 
than  the  "  poisons  of  asps."  Into  this  enclosure  of 
consecrated  ground  we  now  purpose  to  enter,  and  to 
dispute,  with  them,  its  occupancy,  and  bring  to  bear 
upon  their  position  weapons  of  celestial  temper,  drawn 
from  the  great  armory  of  truth,  both  natural  and 
revealed,  and  attempt  to  break  up  the  entrenchments 
which  they  imagine  so  impregnable,  and,  if  possible, 
dislodge  them  from  that  ground,  and  spike  the  batte- 
ries in  which  they  have  trusted.  This  we  shall  attempt 
to  do,  not  from  any  vain  confidence  in  the  power  of 
our  own  arm,  for,  of  that  we  are  diffident.  There  is 
no  strength  in  that,  unassisted  by  the  great  fountain  of 
all  strength.  But  we  shall  do  it,  impelled  by  that  un- 
limited confidence,  which  we  have  heretofore  express- 
ed, in  the  immovable  stability  and  everlasting  endu- 
rance of  that  eternal  proposition,  which  is  every  where 
enstamped,  in  brilliant  letters  of  fire,  upon  the  pillars 
of  God's  throne— - "  Truth  is  mighty  and  will  pre- 
vail." 

On  this  ground  of  controversy,  upon  which  we  are 
entering,  we  find  marshaled,  in  hostile  array,  the  same 
champions,  who  head  the  two  great  divisions  of  the 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  79 

forces  of  error  and  opposition  to  truth,  whom  we  no- 
ticed in  the  commencement  of  this  series  of  Lectures. 
While  the  champions  of  one  division  deny,  altogeth- 
er, the  authenticity  of  the  history  of  the  deluge,  those, 
who  head  the  other,  with  equal  subtlety  and  strenu- 
ousness,  deny  its  literality,  and  so  both  unite  in  the 
common  purpose  of  undermining  and  bringing  into 
disrepute  the  Mosaic  narration  of  that  wonderful  event. 

In  opposition  to  their  opinions  and  arguments,  we 
shall  assume  the  position,  that  the  account  of  the  del- 
uge, contained  in  the  Bible,  is  both  authentic  and 
strictly  literal — that,  in  the  sublime  and  graphic  lan- 
guage of  inspiration,  "  the  windows  of  Heaven  were," 
actually  "opened,  and  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep" 
were  actually  "  broken  up  "  —  that  it  actually  rained 
"  forty  days  and  forty  nights  " — that  the  deluge,  ac- 
tually, so  prevailed  over  the  earth,  as  to  overflow  and 
overtop  the  "highest  mountains"  of  the  earth  "fif- 
teen fathoms,"  and  that,  by  the  grand  and  awful  cat- 
astrophe, and  by  this  terrible  exhibition  of  divine  dis- 
pleasure against  the  impurities  of  the  antediluvian 
race,  every  form  of  animated  existence  upon  the  Globe 
was  actually  destroyed — actually  swallowed  up  in  the 
devouring  vortex  of  the  mighty  flood — except  those, 
who  floated  safely  in  the  ark,  over  the  billowy  surface 
of  the  ocean  enwrapped  earth. 

For  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  I  shall  arrange  my  ar- 
gument and  defence  of  this  position,  under  the  follow- 
ing general  heads.  { 

1st.     A  general  deluge  is  proven  by  the  almost 


80  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

universal  traditionary  testimony  in  favor  of  such  an 
event,  which  prevails  in  the  archives  and  mythologi- 
cal fables  of  all  heathen  and  barbarous  nations. 

2d.  There  is  positive  proof  in  certain  facts  of  as- 
tronomy, that  some  such  remarkable  event  or  convul- 
sion has  formerly  occurred,  and  that  too,  since  the 
organization  of  our  Globe  in  its  present  form.  > 

3d.  There  is  abundant  proof  in  Geology  that  some 
violent  deluge  of  waters,  similar  to  that  described  in 
the  Mosaic  history,  has  once  prevailed  over  the  whole 
earth. 

4th.  In  harmony  with  every  physical  fact  and  law, 
reason  unites  her  important  testimony  with  science, 
to  establish  the  undoubted  certainty  of  such  an  event 
as  a  universal  deluge. 

We  will  here  commence  our  argument  in  favor  of 
the  authenticity  and  literality  of  the  scriptural  history 
of  the  deluge,  in  the  order  of  those  propositions, 
which  we  have  laid  down  for  our  guidance  in  this  dis- 
cussion. 

.  t 

1st.  Then,  a  general  deluge  is  proven  by  the  al- 
most universal  traditionary  testimony  in  favor  of  such 
an  event,  which  prevails  in  the  archives  and  mythol- 
ogical fables  of  all  heathen  and  barbarous  nations. 

In  proof  of  this  proposition  we  shall  take  the  liber- 
ty of  quoting  largely  from  the  British  Cyclopedia, 
where  u  large  amount  of  traditionary  and  mythological 
testimony  has  been  gleaned  from  the  annals  of  many 
nations,  and  condensed  into  a  limited  compass. 

"The  account  given  by  Moses  of  this  catastrophe  is 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  81 

confirmed  by  the  concurrent  testimonies  of  several  of 
the  most  ancient  writers  and  nations  in  the  world ; 
and  as  the  possibility  of  it  cannot  be  denied,  we  need 
not  recur  to  the  hypothesis  of  an  ingenious  biblical 
(but  eccentric  and  paradoxical,)  critic,  (see  Gedde's 
Crit.  Rern.  p.  72,)  who  suggests,  "  that  a  good  deal  of 
the    fabulous   is    mixed  with  the  history  of  Noah's 
flood."     Although  the  history  of  this  event  has  been 
varied,  and  modelled  according  to  the   notions  and 
traditions    that  prevailed   in   different  countries  and 
different  ages,  yet  the  ground-work  was  always  estab- 
lished on  the  foundation  of  truth  ;  and  the  event  was 
for  a  long  time  universally  commemorated.     Josephus 
who  seems  to  have  been  a  person  of  extensive  knowl- 
edge, and  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  nations, 
says,  that  this  great  occurrence  was  to  be  met  with  in 
the  writings  of  all  persons  who  treated  of  the  first 
ages.      He  mentions   Berosus   of  Chaldea,  Hierony- 
mus  of  Egypt,  who  wrote  concerning  the  antiquities 
of  Phoenicia ;  also  Mnaseas,   Abydenus,  Melon  and 
Nicholaus  Damascerius,  as  writers,  by  whom  it  was 
recorded  ;  and  adds,  that  it  was  taken  notice  of  by 
many  others.     From  Berosus,  a  Chaldean  by  birth, 
who  lived  in  the   time  of  Alexander  the  great,  we 
learn,  that  Chronus  or  Saturn  appeared  to  Xisuthrus, 
the  tenth  or  last  of  the  Chaldean  kings,  in  a  dream, 
and  warned  him,  that  on  the  1 5th  of  the  month  Des- 
ius,  mankind  would  be  destroyed  by  a  flood;  he  there- 
fore commanded  him  to  write  down  the  original,  in- 
termediate state,  and  end  of  all  things,  and  bury  the 


82'  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

writings  underground  in  Sippara,  the  City  of  the  sun  j 
he  likewise  directed  him  to  build  a  ship,  and  go  into- 
it,  with  his  relations,  and  dearest  friends,  having  first 
furnished  it  with  provisions,  and  taken  into  it  fowls 
and  four-footed  creatures ;  and  told  him,  that  when 
he  had  provided  every  thing,  and  was  asked  whither 
he  was  sailing,  he  should  answer,  "to  the  gods,  to 
pray  for  happiness  to  mankind."  Xisuthrua  accord- 
ingly built  a  vessel,  whose  length  was  five  furlongs, 
and  breadth  two  furlongs.  He  put  on  board  all  that 
he  was  directed  to  provide,  and  went  into  it  with  his 
wife,  children  and  friends.  The  flood  being  come, 
and  soon  ceasing,  Xisuthrus  let  out  certain  birds., 
which,  finding  no  food  or  place  to  rest  upon,  returned 
again  to  the  ship.  After  some  days  he  sent  forth  the 
birds  again,  but  they  came  back  to  the  ship,  having 
their  feet  daubed  with  mud  ;  but  when  they  were 
sent  away  the  third  time,  they  returned  no  more ;  a 
circumstance  from  which  Xisuthrus  understood  that 
the  earth  had  appeared  again.  He  now  made  an 
opening  between  the  planks  of  the  ship,  and  seeing 
that  it  rested  on  a  certain  mountain,  came  out  with 
his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  his  pilot ;  having  worship- 
ed the  earth,  and  raised  an  altar,  and  sacrificed  to  the 
gods,  he  and  those  who  went  out  with  him,  disap- 
peared. They  who  were  left  behind  in  the  ship, 
finding  Xisuthrus,  and  the  persons  who  accompanied 
him  did  not  return,  went  out  to  seek  for  him,  calling 
him  aloud  by  his  name  ;  but  Xisuthrus  was  no  more 
seen  by  them  ;  only  a  voice,  issuing  from  the  clouds, 


ON   THE    DELUGE,  83 

enjoined  them  to  be  religious,  declaring  that  Xisu- 
thrus,  on  account  of  his  piety,  was  gone  to  dwell 
with  the  gods  ;  and  that  his  wife,  and  daughter,  and 
pilot  were  partakers  of  the  same  honor.  It  also  di- 
rected them  to  return  to  Babylon,  and  taking  the  wri- 
tings from  Sippara,  to  communicate  them  to  mankind; 
and  finally  told  them,  that  the  place  where  they  were 
was  the  country  of  Armenia.  Thus  informed  they 
offered  sacrifices  to  the  god,  and  immediately  repair- 
ed to  Babylon,  dug  up  the  writings  at  Sippara,  built 
many  cities,  raised  temples,  and  rebuilt  Babylon.  Aby- 
denus  also  gives  a  similar  relation.  It  is  said  that 
Xisuthrus  or  Sisithrus,  Ogyges,  and  Deucalion,  are  all 
names  signifying  the  same  thing  in  other  langunges,  as 
Noah  does  in  the  Hebrew,  in  which  Moses  wrote. 
(Vide  Alexander,  Polyhestor,  ex  Beroso,  apud  Syn- 
cell,  P.  30,  31,  et  apud  Cyrill,  contra  Julian,  1,  1,  p. 
8.  Abydenus  ex  eodem,  apud  Syncell,  p.  38,  33,  et 
apud  Euseb.  de  Praep.  Evang.  1.  ix,  c.  12.)  The  In- 
dians and  Persians  had  also  traditions  concerning 
the  deluge.  Accordingly  an  eastern  writer  tells  us, 
that  some  of  those  who  embrace  the  Magian  rdigion, 
are  said  to  deny  the  flood,  or  at  least  the  universality  of 
it  ;  pretending  that  it  reached  no  farther  than  a  cliff 
near  Hulwan,  a  city  of  Irak,  bordering  on  Curdistan. 
Nevertheless  the  orthodox  among  them  acknowledge 
this  general  destruction  by  water,  sent  by  God  to  pun- 
ish the  crimes  of  mankind;  one  of  whom,  named 
Malcus,  was  a  monster  of  wickedness  and  impiety. 
One  odd  circumstance  maintained  by  them  is,  that  the 


84  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

first  waters  of  the  deluge  gushed  out  of  the  oven  of 
a  certain  old  woman,  named  ZalaCufa  ;  and  Mahom- 
et has  borrowed  this  circumstance  and  inserted  it  in 
his  Koran  ;  the  commentators  on  which  say,  that  it 
was  the  sign  by  which  Noah  knew  the  flood  was  com- 
ing. (Al  Koran,  cap.  xi,  d,  Herbelot,  Bib.  Orient. 
Hyde  de  rel.  vet.  Pers.  c.  x.)  Lord's  account  of  the 
religion  of  the  Perses,  p.  9. 

Plutarch  (De,  Solert,  Anim.  vii,  p.  968,)  men- 
tions the  Noachic  dove,  and  its  being  sent  out  of  the 
ark;  and  its  going  out  was  to  Deucalion,  a  sign  of 
fine  weather,  as  its  leturn  denoted  the  reverse.  Melo, 
or  Melon,  who  wrote  a  treatise  against  the  Jews  (see 
Euseb.  Praep.  Evang.  i.  ix,  c.  19,)  takes  notice, — 
among  other  things,  of  the  person  who  survived  the 
deluge,  retreating  with  his  sons,  after  the  calamity, 
from  Armenia;  and  he  supposes  that  they  came  to 
the  mountainous  parts  of  Syria,  instead  of  the  plains 
of  Shinar.  This  writer  seems  to  represent  the  deluge 
as  tropical,  and  not  to  have  reached  Armenia. 

That  the  Egyptians  were  no  strangers  to  the  del- 
uge appears,  not  only  from  several  circumstances  in 
the  history  of  Osiris  and  Typhon,  particularly  the 
very  day  when  it  began,  or  when  Osiris,  (who  is  taken 
for  Noah)  was  shut  up  in  the  Ark,  and  the  name  of 
Typhon,  which  according  to  some  learned  men,  sig- 
nifies a  deluge  or  inundation  ;  but  also  from  the  tes- 
timony of  Plato,  who  says  that  a  certain  Egyptian 
priest  recounted  to  Solon,  out  of  their  sacred  books, 
the  history  of  the  universal  flood,  which  happened 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  85 

long  before  the  particular  inundations  known  by  the 
Grecians.  It  is  the  tradition  of  the  Egyptians,  as  we 
learn  from  Diodorus  Siculus,  lib.  i,  that  the  univer- 
sal deluge  was  that  of  Deucalion.  But  the  most  par- 
ticular history  of  the  deluge,  and  the  nearest  of  any 
to  the  account  given  by  Moses,  is  to  be  found  in  Lu- 
cian.  (De  Dea  Syria,  vol.  ii,  p.  882.)  He  was  a 
native  of  Samosata,  a  city  of  Comagene  upon  the 
Euphrates;  a  part  of  the  world  where  the  memorials 
of  the  deluge  were  particularly  preserved,  and  where 
a  reference  to  that  history  is  continually  to  be  observ- 
ed in  the  rites  and  worship  of  the  country.  His 
knowledge  was  therefore  obtained  from  the  Asiatic 
nations,  among  whom  he  was  born.  He  describes 
Noah  under  the  name  Deucalion,  and  says,  that  "the 
present  race  of  mankind  are  different  from  those  who 
first  existed  ;  for  those  of  the  antediluvian  world  were 
all  destroyed.  The  present  world  is  peopled  from  the 
sons  of  Deucalion  having  increased  to  so  great  a  num- 
ber from  one  person.  In  respect  to  the  former  brood, 
they  were  men  of  violence,  and  lawless  in  their  deal- 
ings. They  regarded  not  oaths,  nor  observed  the 
rites  of  hospitality,  nor  showed  mercy  to  those  who 
sued  for  it ;  on  this  account  they  were  doomed  to  de- 
struction ;  and  for  this  purpose  there  was  a  mighty 
eruption  of  waters  from  the  earth,  attended,  with 
heavy  showers  from  above,  so  that  the  rivers  swelled, 
and  the  sea  overflowed,  till  the  earth  was  covered  with 
a  flood,  and  all  flesh  drowned.  Deucalion  alone 
was  preserved  to  re-people  the  world.  This  mercy 


00  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

was  shown  to  him  on  account  of  his  justice  and  piety. 
His  preservation  was  effected  in  this  manner  ;  lie  put 
all  his  family,  both  his  sons  and  their  wives,  into  a 
vast  ark,  which  he  had  provided  ;  and  he  went  into  it 
himself.  At  the  same  time  animals  of  every  species, 
boars,  horses,  lions,  serpents,  whatever  lived  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,  followed  him  by  pairs,  all  which  he 
received  into  the  ark,  and  experienced  no  evil  from 
them ;  for  there  prevailed  a  wonderful  harmony 
throughout,  by  the  immediate  influence  of  the  Deity. 
Thus  were  they  wafted  with  him,  as  long  as  the  flood 
endured."  After  this  he  proceeds  to  mention,  that 
upon  the  disappearing  of  the  waters,  Deucalion  went 
forth  from  the  ark,  and  raised  an  altar  (altars  accord- 
ing to  Gen.  vi,  20,)  to  God  ;  but  he  transposes  the 
scene  to  Hierapolis  in  Syria,  where  the  natives  pretend- 
ed to  have  very  particular  memorials  of  the  deluge. 
Most  of  the  authors,  who  have  transmitted  to  us  these 
accounts,  inform  us  at  the  same  time,  that  the  remains 
of  the  ark  were  to  be  seen  in  their  days  upon  one  of 
the  mountains  of  Armenia.  Abydenus  says,  that  the 
people  of  the  country  used  small  pieces  of  the  wood 
as  amulets  ;  and  Berosus  says  the  same  of  the  asph- 
altus,  with  which  it  was  covered,  and  which  they 
scraped  off. 

The  learned  Bryant,  in  his  "Analysis  of  ancient 
Mythology,"  (vol.  n.)  has  traced  out  a  reference  to 
Noah  and  the  deluge,  and  a  resemblance  of  the  ark, 
in  many  of  the  religious  rites  and  ceremonies  of  an- 
cient nations.  The  well  known  ship  of  Isis,  among 


•®N    THE    DELUGE.  SI 

the  Egyptians,  was,  as  he  conceives,  a  sacred  emblem ; 
in  honour  of  which  these  people  celebrate  an  annual 
festival.  It  was,  in  after- times,  admitted  among  the 
Romans,  and  set  down  in  their  calender  for  the  month 
of  March.  The  temple  of  Osiris  (or  Sesostris)  at  The- 
ba  was  built  after  the  model  of  a  ship,  280  cubits  in 
length;  and  both  the  city,  said  to  be  the  most  ancient  in 
Egypt,  as  well  as  the  province,  was  denominated  from 
the  ark,  called  Theba  by  the  sacred  writer.  The  same 
memorial  is  to  be  observed  in  other  countries3  where 
an  ark,  or  ship,  was  introduced  in  their  mysteries,  and 
often  carried  about  upon  their  festivals ;  and  many  in- 
stances of  emblematical  representations  are  cited  by 
Bryant,  which  related  to  the  history  of  the  deluge,  and 
the  conservation  of  one  family  in  the  ark.  This  his- 
tory was  pretty  recent,  when  works  of  this  kind  were 
executed  in  Egypt,  and  when  the  rites  to  which  they 
belonged  were  first  established ;  and  this  learned  wri- 
ter imagines,  that  in  early  times  most  shrines  among 
the  Mizraim  were  formed  under  the  resemblance  of  a 
ship,  in  memory  of  this  great  event.  He  adds  further, 
that  both  ships  and  temples  received  their  names  from 
hence  ;  being  styled  by  the  Greeks,  who  borrowed 
largely  from  Egypt,  Naus  and  Naos,  and  Manners 
Nautai  and  Nautae,  in  reference  to  the  patriarch,  who 
was  variously  styled  Noas  Naus,  and  Noah.  Plutarch 
(Isis  and  Osiris,  vol.  I, -p.  366,  367,)  gives  us  a  re- 
markable account  of  Osiris  being  exposed  in  an  ark. 
He  says,  that,  it  was  on  account  of  Typhon  ;  and  that  it 
happened  on  the  17th  of  the  month  Athyr,  when  the 


88  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

sun  was  in  Scorpio.  "  This  in  my  judgment  ;'r  says 
Bryant,  "  was  the  precise  time,  when  Noah  entered 
the  ark,  and  when  the  flood  came  ;  which  in  the 
Egyptian  mythology  was  termed  Typhon."  From 
these,  and  many  other  circumstances  that  might  be 
recited,  it  sufficiently  appears,  that  the  history  of  the 
deluge  was  no  secret  to  the  gentile  world.  They 
held  the  memory  of  it  very  sacred ;  and  many  colonies 
which  went  abroad,  styled  themselves  Thebeans,  in 
reference  to  the  ark ;  and  many  cities  of  the  name  of 
Theba  occur,  not  in  Egypt  only  and  Bceotia,  but  in 
Cilicia,  Ionia,  Attica,  Phthiotis,  Catonia,  Syria  and 
Italy. 

The  tradition  of  the  deluge  has,  indeed,  spread 
throughout  the  world,  and  is  preserved  in  the  memo- 
ry of  all  nations;  in  the  continent  of  America,  as 
well  as  Asia,  in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  among  the 
Africans  and  Europeans.  (See  Burneti  Telluris  Theor, 
Sacra.  1,  i.  c.  3.) 

We  are  told,  indeed,  (see  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws, 
Pref.  p.  38,)  that  the  Gentoo  scriptures  make  no  men- 
tion of  the  deluge ;  and  that  the  Bramins  affirm,  that 
the  deluge  never  took  place  in  Hindoostan.  If  this 
be  true,  it  may  well  excite  astonishment,  since  the  de- 
luge is  an  event  so  singular  in  its  nature,  that  suppo- 
sing it  to  have  happened,  the  memory  of  it  could  nev- 
er have  been  extinguished  amongst  the  generality  of 
nations  which  inhabit  the  earth  ;  and  more  especial- 
ly, since  learned  men  have  abundantly  proved  that  a 
tradition  concerning  a  deluge  has  prevailed  in  everj 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  89 

quarter  of  the  globe  ;  not  only  amongst  the  Romans  ; 
Grecians,  Egyptians,  Babylonians,  Persians,  Scythians, 
but  amongst  the  Iroquois,  Mexicans,  Brazilians,  Pe- 
ruvians, and  other  nations  of  America.  Moreover, 
we  are  informed  by  one  of  the  navigators  to  the  South- 
ern Hemisphere,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Otaheite  be- 
ing asked  concerning  their  origin,  simply  answered, 
that  their  supreme  God  a  long  time  ago,  being  angry, 
dragged  the  earth  through  the  sea,  and  their  Island 
being  broken  off  was  preserved. 

Now,  if  a  tradition  concerning  a  deluge  has  pre- 
vailed in  almost  every  part  of  the  Globe,  except  in 
India,  and,  as  some  say,  in  China,  may  we  not  hesi- 
tate a  little  till  we  know  more  of  those  countries,  be- 
fore we  positively  affirm,  that  they  have  no  such  tra- 
dition? For  it  deserves  to  be  remarked,  that  what  is 
said  in  the  preface  to  the  code  of  Gentoo  laws,  rela- 
tive to  the  want  of  a  tradition  concerning  a  deluge  in 
the  Gentoo  Shasters,  (or  Scriptures,)  is  contradicted 
by  an  author  who  lived  in  India,  and  wrote  his  ac- 
count of  the  Banians  about  150  years  ago;  for  he 
expressly  says,  that  he  made  his  collections,  by  the 
help  of  interpreters,  from  the  Shaster,  and  he  has  the 
following  words  : — "  As  if  the  world  needed  cleansing 
of  its  defilement  and  pollution,  there  came  a  flood, 
that  covered  all  nations  in  the  depths  —  and  so  con- 
cluded the  first  age  of  the  world  according  to  the  tra- 
dition of  the  Banians."  (Lord's  Discovery  of  the 
Banian  religion,  c.  6.)  Sir  William  Jones,  than  whom 
~ 


90  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

there  could  not  be  a  more  competent  judge,  and  one 
on  whose  testimony  we  may  more  securely  rely,  af- 
firms, "  that  a  tradition  concerning  a  deluge  does  cer- 
tainly subsist  in  Hindoostan,"  and  that  in  the  oldest 
mythological  books  there  is  such  an  account  of  the 
deluge  as  sufficiently  corresponds  with  that  of  Moses. 
(See  Bishop  Watson's  Discourse  to  the  Clergy,  &c., 
in  his  sermons  and  tracts,  p.  220.)  The  learned  pre- 
late, (p.  229,)  has  recorded  a  very  curious  passage, 
quoted  in  the  "  Flora  Saturnisans"  of  Henckel  (Par- 
is ed.  1760)  from  the  works  of  Ramizini,  concerning 
the  primitive  state  of  the  earth,  and  the  subsequent 
deluge,  taken,  as  it  is  said,  from  the  most  ancient  an- 
nals of  Ethiopia." 

The  foregoing  extracts  from  the  British  Cyclope- 
dia, which  contain  a  large  amount  of  traditionary  and 
mythological  testimony  respecting  the  deluge,  gleaned 
from  various  sources,  fully  sustain  the  truth  of  our 
first  proposition,  and  we  will  therefore  pass  on,  with- 
out further  comment,  to  the  consideration  of  the  two 
succeeding  propositions,  upon  which  we  shall  mainly 
rely  to  defend  our  position. 

Before  proceeding  further,  however,  we  will  intro- 
duce here,  from  "  Fairholme's  Geology  of  Scripture," 
a  prophecy  respecting  this  event,  contained  in  the 
Apochryphal  Book  of  Enoch. 

"  In  the  very  curious  and  interesting  work,  called 
the  book  of  Enoch,  referred  to  by  St.  Jude,  v.  ]<!, 
which  had  long  been  looked  upon  as  lost,  but  which 
was  at  length  discovered  in  the  Ethiopia  language  by 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  91 

Bruce,  in  Abyssinia,  who  brought  home  three  manu- 
script copies  of  it,  one  of  which  was  presented  to  the 
Royal  Library  at  Paris,  a  second,  to  the  Bodleian  Li- 
brary at  Oxford,  and  the  third,  retained  by  himself; 
we  find  a  very  remarkable  corroborative  testimony  to 
the  above  view  of  the  subject  of  the  deluge.  In  quo- 
ting from  this  apocryphal  book,  it  is  not  necessary,  in 
this  place,  to  enter  into  the  question  of  its  actually  be- 
ing, what  its  title  professes  it  to  be,  a  prophetic  work 
of  the  antediluvian  Enoch.  This  point  has  been 
clearly  settled  by  Dr.  Laurence,  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  an  English  translation  of  the  copy  in  the 
Bodleian  Library.  But,  although,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  learned  translator,  this  original  Hebrew,  or  Chaldee 
work,  was  composed  subsequent  to  the  Babylonish 
captivity,  it  must  be  admitted  to  be  a  very  interesting 
and  curious  piece  of  antiquity,  though  not  worthy  of 
a  place  among  the  canonical  books  of  Scripture. 

"  The  passage  I  am  about  to  quote,  however,  will 
serve  to  show  the  prevailing  opinion  on  the  subject  of 
the  deluge  in  the  times  of  the  author  of  it,  and  is  quite 
consistent  with  the  passage  in  St.  Peter's  Epistle,  and 
with  the  above  passage  in  the  book  of  Job. 

"  In  the  82d  chapter  of  the  book  of  Enoch,  and 
the  5th  verse,  we  find  the  writer  prophetically  descri- 
bing the  destruction  of  the  c  earth,  that  then  was,'  in 
the  following  manner : 

"  '  And  falling  to  the  earth,  I  saw  likewise  the  earth 
ABSORBED  BY  A  GREAT  ABYSS,  and  mountains  suspend- 
ed over  mountains,  hills  were  sinking  upon  hills, 


92  ON    THE    DELUGET. 

lofty  trees  were  gliding  off  from  their  trunks,  and  were 
in  the  act  of  being  projected,  and  of  SINKING  JNTO 

THE  ABYSS. 

"  '  Being  alarmed  at  these  things,  my  voice  faltered. 
I  cried  and  said,  THE  EARTH  is  DESTROYED  !  Theny 
my  grandfather,  Malaleel,  raised  me  up,  and  said  to 
me,  Why  dost  thou  thus  cry  out,  my  son  ?  And 
wherefore  dost  thou  thus  lament? 

" '  I  related  to  him  the  whole  vision  which  I  had 
seen.  He  said  to  me,  confirmed  is  that  which  thou 
hast  seen,  my  son : 

" f  And  potent  the  vision  of  thy  dream  respecting 
every  secret  sin  of  the  earth.  ITS  SUBSTANCE  SHALL 
SINK  INTO  THE  ABYSS,  and  cc  great  destruction  take 
place. 

"  '  Now,  my  son,  rise  up ;  and  beseech  the  Lord  of 
Glory,  (for  thou  are  faithful,)  that  a  remnant  may  be 
left  upon  the  earth,  and  that  he  would  not  wholly  de- 
stroy it.  My  son,  all  this  calamity  upon  earth  comes 
down  from  heaven,  upon  earth  shall  there  be  a  great 
destruction.1  J> 

2d.  There  is  positive  proof  in  certain  facts  of  As- 
tronomy, that  some  such  remarkable  event  or  convul- 
sion, as  a  general  deluge,  has  formerly  occurred,  and 
that,  too,  since  the  organization  of  our  globe  in  its 
present  form. 

For  the  sake  of  perspecuity  I  shall,  under  this  head, 
state  several  propositions,  as  the  outlines  or  landmarks 
of  the  discussion,  and  then  sustain  them  by  a  chain 
of  reasoning,  supported  by  appropriate  analogical  ref- 
erences and  inferences  drawn  from  them. 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  93 

1st.     There  must,  doubtless,  have  been  a  natural 
cause  for  the  deluge. 

In  assuming  this,  we  by  no  means  disclaim,  nor 
would  we,  for  a  moment,  disclaim  Omnipotent  agen- 
cy in  the  production  of  that  great  event.  God  works 
by  means,  but,  then,  the  means  themselves  would  have 
-no  power  at  all,  did  he  not  ENERGIZE  them,  and  ren- 
der them  effectual.  When  He  overthrew  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  and  the  cities  of  the  plain,  for  instance, 
which  had  been  for  some  time  previously  predicted, 
He  did  it  by  a  natural  cause.  At  the  moment  ap- 
pointed, volcanic  agency  and  the  subtle  elemental 
fires  of  the  clouds  effected  the  work  of  destruction. 
They  had  no  power  of  themselves  to  move  until  He 
bade  them.  They  were  chained  to  their  subterranean 
and  rocky  caverns  of  sulphur  by  a  decree  more  bind- 
ing than  the  "laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  which 
altered  not."  But  the  moment  he  dissolved  that  de- 
cree, by  his  mandate,  and  loosened  their  bonds,  they 
burst  forth  from  their  citadel,  and  poured  the  scath- 
ing thunder  of  their  artillery  upon  these  devoted 
cities. 

Another  instance  of  the  agency  of  means  employed 
by  the  Eternal,  to  accomplish  his  ends,  is  found  in  the 
admirable  order  and  regularity  of  the  solar  system. — 
The  sun  is  the  agent,  who,  by  the  influence  of  the 
steady  emanation  of  his  light,  whirls  all  the  planets 
upon  their  axes,  and  bears  them,  with  resistless  ener- 
gy, in  their  rapid  circles,  through  the  enormous  cir- 
cumference of  their  orbits,  perfectly  balancing,  by 


94  ON   THE    DELUGE. 

never  changing  physical  law,  their  centripetal  and 
centrifugal  forces.  But,  then,  the  sun,  after  all,  is 
only  an  agent,  and  the  immutable  physical  law  by 
which  he  wheels  the  planets  with  such  perfect  regu- 
larity, producing  seed  time  and  harvest,  cold  and  heat, 
summer  and  winter,  day  and  night,  is,  strictly  speak- 
ing, only  the  sovereign  and  all-controling  will  of  the 
Eternal.  There  is,  therefore,  no  disparagement  of 
the  Almighty,  in  supposing  that  there  must  have  been 
a  natural  cause  for  the  deluge.  It  rather  magnifies 
immensely,  his  wisdom,  foresight  and  omnipotence  to 
suppose  that  the  very  agent  and  instrument  for  the 
production  of  that  event,  had  been  created  and  pre- 
pared ages  before,  and  only  waited  for  the  bidding  of 
its  author,  to  rush  forth,  "  like  a  giant  refreshed  by 
slumber,"  to  the  work  of  awful  vengeance  and  deso- 
lation. 

2d.  Whatever  might  have  been  that  agent  or  cause, 
its  evident  effect  was  to  drag  the  earth  from  its/brmer 
position  and  change  its  polarity. 

I  should  not  dare  thus  boldly  to  assume  this  novel 
proposition,  without  I  had  proof  positive  to  sustain 
me  in  making  the  assertion  —  proof  as  plain,  as  pos- 
itive, and  as  immovable  as  the  fixed  stars  —  proof, 
which  will  blaze  from  the  heavens,  as  an  everlasting 
and  undeniable  memorial  of  that  great  event,  which 
the  infidel  cannot  sooner  gainsay  or  resist,  than  he 
can,  with  his  puny  lance  of  error,  tilt  against  the  stars, 
arid  push  the  twinkling  lights  of  heaven  from  their 
brilliant  thrones  —  proof  so  plain,  that  I  am  aston- 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  95 

ished  that  it  has  been  overlooked  by  the  scientific 
world. 

I  will  introduce  in  this  connection,  an  important 
fact  from  Astronomy,  bearing  directly  upon  the  sub- 
ject at  issue,  which  shall  stand  the  test  of  scrutiny, 
and  ward  off  the  pigmy  assaults  of  the  sceptic,  as  long 
as  the  starry  universe  shall  stand. 

*  "  Thuban  is  a  bright  star  of  the  2d  magnitude, 
eleven  degrees  from  Asich,  in  a  line  with,  and  about 
midway  between,  Mizar  and  the  southernmost  guard 
in  the  Little  Bear.  By  nuiical  men  this  is  called  the 
Ut  agon's  Tail,  and  is  considered  of  much  importance 
at  sea.  It  is  otherwise  celebrated  as  being  formerly 
the  north  polar  star.  About  2,300  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  Thuban  was  ten  times  nearer  the  true 
pole  of  the  heavens  than  Cynosura  now  is."~ 

We  will  first  remark  upon  the  chronological  data 
of  the  astonishing  event  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
extract.  It  is  stated  that  "  Thuban  "  was  the  north 
pole  star  of  the  earth,  instead  of  "  Cynosura,"  the  pres- 
pole  star,  "  about  2,300  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era" — that  is,  that  the  earth,  in  its  rotation  up- 
on its  axis,  seemed  to  revolve  around  th«t  point  in 
the  heavens,  where  "  Thuban  "  is  located,  rather  than 
that  point  around  which  it  now  revolves,  aid  where 
"  Cynosura,"  the  present  pole  star,  is  located,  and 
that  "Thuban"  was  then  "  ten  times  nearer "  that 
point  of  revolution  than  "  Cynosura"  now  is.  About 
the  sources  of  the  information,  from  which  Burritt 

*  Vide—  Bu nit t'?  Creoornphy  Heavens,  page  IIP. 


96  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

drew  this  important  fact,  we  shall  not  here  remark, 
taking  it  for  granted  that  a  man  of  such  profound  re- 
search and  scientific  attainments,  would  not  have  in- 
troduced such  a  fact  into  his  work,  as  positive,  with- 
out sufficient  data  in  testimony  of  its  truth  and  relia- 
bility. This  surprixjng  event,  then,  happened  "  about 
2,300  years  before  the  Christian  era."  Now  this 
must,  it  will  be  found,  by  a  comparison  of  chronolog- 
ical tables,  have  happened  at  the  time  of  the  deluge, 
for  scholars  generally  compute  that  that  catastrophe 
happened  about  2,300  years  before  the  same  era. — 
They  do  not  vary  over  forty  or  fifty  years  either  way 
from  that  period. 

Not  only  did  this  change  of  polarity  take  place  at 
the  time  of  the  deluge,  but  there  is  another  most  cu- 
rious and  astonishing  fact,  bearing  directly  upon  the 
question  at  issue,  and  giving  the  important  aid  of  its 
testimony  to  the  elucidation  of  the  subject.  It  refers 
to  the  distance  of  the  former  pole  star  from  the  pres- 
ent,  or,  of  the  former  point  of  revolution  from  the 
present. 

It  will  be  found  by  measurement  upon  the  celestial 
map,  that  the  present  pole  of  the  heavens  is  just 
about  twenty-three  and  a  half  degrees  from  "Tim- 
ban."  What  does  this  fact  show  ?  Why,  either  that 
both  "Thuban,"  "Cynosura,"  and,  indeed,  all  the 
other  stars  of  the  sidereal  heavens,  must  have  moved 
from  their  former  positions,  or  else  that  the  earth  has 
been  changed  in  its  polarity  just  that  distance.  The 
former  certainly  cannot  have  done  it,  for  they  are 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  97 

\A  fixed  —  immoveably  fixed,  in  their  several  locations 
—  the  latter  must,  therefore,  have  been  so  changed. 
How  admirably  this  agrees  with  what  is  denominated 
the  "  inclination  of  the  poles"  for  it  is  a  fact  of  Ge- 

-t//  ography,  which  is  familiar  to  every  little  ^hool  boy, 
that  this  inclination  from  a  line  at  right  angles  with  the 
plane  of  the  ecliptic  is  just  twenty-three  and  a  half 
degrees. 

But,  as  I  have  already  exceeded  the  appropriate 
limits  of  a  single  lecture,  I  must  break  off  in  the  midst 
of  the  discussion  of  this  intensely  interesting  subject, 
and  refer  its  further  consideration  to  the  next  lecture. 


LECTURE    V. 

THE    TRUTH    OF    THE     NOACHIAN     DELUGE     PROVED    BY    HIS- 
TORY, ASTRONOMY,  GEOLOGY    AND    REASON. 

Havirig,  in  our  last  lecture  shown,  by  a  positive 
and  undeniable  fact  of  Astronomy,  which  fact  shall 
give  its  testimony  to  a  great  truth,  so  long  as  the  starry 
heavens  shall  endure — that  the  polarity  of  the  Globe 
has  been  changed  since  creation — that,  that  change 
must  have  occurred  about  the  time  of  the  Noachian 
deluge — and  that  the  distance  of  that  change  of  po- 
larity is,  by  actual  measurement  upon  the  celestial 
map,  just  twenty-three  and  a  half  degrees,  the  same 
as  the  present  "inclination  of  the  poles"  of  the 
earth,  we  shall  now  proceed  with  the  further  consid- 
eration of  this  intensely  interesting  subject. 

3d.  That  change  of  polarity,  which  Astronomy  so 
clearly  proves,  was  either  gradual  or  else  sudden. 

Had  it  been  gradual — had  the  star  "Thuban,"by 
a  slow  process,  changed  places  with  "Cynosura,"  so 
that  its  apparent  movement  should  have  been  twen- 
ty-three and  a  half  degrees,  the  phenomenon  would 
have  been  so  remarkable  that  it  must,  certainly,  have 
been  noticed  by  some  of  the  ancients,  who  were  such 
close  observers  of  the  stars,  and  who  early  classed 
them  into  constellations — it  must  have  been  noticed 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  99 

by  them,  even  though  so  gradual  as  to  occupy  an 
age  in  making  the  transition,  and  a  record  of  the 
wonderful  fact  would  have  been  made  and  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  like  the  "  pre- 
cession" of  the  equinoxes.  But  no  such  observation 
or  record  lias  ever  been  made  or  handed  down — in 
fact  no  such  gradual  change  of  polarity  ever  oc- 
curred. In  the  language  of  Burritt,  "  as  the  earth 
performs  its  annual  revolution  around  the  sun,  the 
position  of  its  axis  remains  invariably  the  same  ; 
always  pointing  to  the  north  pole  of  the  heavens,  and 
always  maintaining  the  same  inclination  to  its  orbit" 
The  change  of  that  polarity  was  not  gradual,  there- 
fore, but,  as  it  actually  occurred,  must,  of  necessary 
consequence,  have  been  sudden. 

4th.  That  change  of  polarity  was  either  produced 
by  an  external  or  an  internal  cause. 

It  could  not  have  been  produced  by  an  internal 
cause,  for  we  cannot  possibly  conceive  of  any  cause, 
acting  internally,  which  could  have  suddenly  turned 
the  world  around  from  its  former  position  in  space 
twenty-three  and  a  half  degrees.  The  earthquake 
might  shake  the  globe  with  a  terrible  concussion  — 
the  volcano  might  burst  it  asunder,  but  we  cannot  con- 
ceive that  either  those,  or  any  other  internal  convul- 
sions could  have  been  productive  of  .such  an  event. 
The  cause  must,  therefore,  have  been  external. 

5th.  This  cause  must  have  been  either  the  direct 
agency  of  the  Eternal  or  else  some  appointed  instru- 


100  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

ment  of  his,  prepared  by  his  foresight,  wisdom  and 
omnipotence,  expressly  for  the  purpose. 

That  it  was  not  by  direct  agency  of  omnipotence, 
we  infer  from  the  analogy  of  divine  economy. — 
Throughout  his  immense  empire,  God  works  by  the 
agency  of  means  —  by  the  operation  of  secondary 
causes,  as  we  have  elsewhere  intimated.  It  certainly 
argues  no  want  of  efficiency  and  power  in  the  Al- 
mighty, to  suppose  that  he  prepares  instruments  be- 
forehand in  the  vast  and  intricate  machinery  of  worlds 
and  systems  to  execute  His  purposes.  It  must  rath- 
er vastly  magnify,  in  the  estimation  of  all  rational  ex- 
istences, the  infinitude  of  that  foresight,  wisdom  and 
omnipotence,  which  could  thus  prepare,  in  the  secret 
counsels  of  eternity,  instruments  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  any  given  stupendous  event,  as,  for  instance, 
the  destruction  of  a  world,  at  the  precise  moment  of 
its  destination,  and  then,  send  it  unerringly  and  infal- 
libly to  the  swift  commission  of  its  appointed  errand. 
The  cause,  then,  of  the  change  of  the  earth's  polari- 
ty was  not,  we  infer,  the  direct  agency  of  the  Eternal, 
such  as  turning  it  in  space  without  the  intervention  of 
physical  means,  but  an  instrument  expressly  appoint- 
ed by  him  for  that  work,  and  chained,  until  that  pe- 
riod, by  an  unalterable  decree,  safe  and  harmless  in 
the  great  arsenal  of  eternity. 

6th.  If  the  change  of  the  earth's  polarity  was  sud- 
den, as  we  have  already  proved  conclusively,  the  con- 
cussion, which  shook  it  out  of  its  previous  firm  and 
stable  position,  must  have  been  tremendous  in  its  en- 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  101 

ergies  —  must  have  "shaken  terribly  the  earth" — 
must  have  produced  a  convulsion  that  made  nature 
groan  to  her  inmost  recesses,  and  sent  terror  and  dis- 
may, agitation,  tumult  and  blank  desolation  through- 
out every  department  of  this  province  of  her  domains. 
Now  what  was  this  agent  ?  Can  we  ascertain  with 
any  reasonable  certainty  any  natural  cause,  which 
could  have  produced  such  a  result?  Let  us  examine. 
Comets  are  a  very  mysterious  class  of  bodies,  which 
are  attendants  upon  our  solar  system,  and,  whatever 
may  be  their  design,  and  the  specific  duties  which 
they  fulfil,  they  were  certainly  not  created  in  vain. — 
Perhaps  they  were  the  bodies  spoken  of  in  Genesis, 
which  were  created  for  "  signs."  Certain  it  is,  that 
the  appearance  of  the  most  remarkable  of  them  has 
ever  inspired  the  nations  with  fear.  There  seems  to 
be  a  sort  of  instinctive  dread  of  them  in  the  bosom 
of  mankind,  the  same  as  there  is  of  the  serpent  tribes, 
and,  perhaps,  for  the  self  same  reason  —  a  sort  of  pro- 
phetic presentiment  that  they  are  dangerous  neighbors 
—  that  they  may  have  done  us  damage  heretofore,  in 
their  erratic  and  apparently  lawless  wanderings,  and 
may,  one  day,  accomplish  the  destruction  of  the  plan- 
et, in  whose  welfare  all  are  so  vitally  interested.  In 
the  graphic  language  of  Burritt,  "  when  we  look  up- 
wards to  the  clear  sky  of  evening,  and  behold,  among 
the  multitudes  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  one  blazing 
with  its  long  train  of  light,  and  rushing  onward  to- 
ward the  centre  of  our  system,  we  shrink  back,  as  if 
from  the  presence  of  a  supernatural  being." 


102  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

Let  us  trace  one  or  two  of  these  strange  messen- 
gers in  their  course,  as  they  make  their  appearance, 
after  having  wandered,  for  centuries,  away  from  the 
sun,  through  the  infinitude  of  space. 

"The  Comet  of  1630  "  says  Burritt,  "was -of  the 
largest  size,  and  had  a  tail,  whose  enormous  length 
was  more  than  ninety-six  millions  of  miles. 

"At  its  greatest  distance,  it  is  thirteen  hundred  mil* 
lions  of  millions  of  miles  from  the  sun,  while  at  its 
nearest  approach,  it  is  only  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  thousand  miles  from  his  centre  or  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  miles  from  his  surface- 
In  that  point  of  its  orbit,  which  is  nearest  the  sun,  it 
flies  with  the  amazing  swiftness  of  one  million  of 
miles  in  an  hour,  and  the  sun,  as  seen  from  it,  appears 
27,000  times  larger  than  it  appears  to  us ;  conse- 
quently, it  is  then  exposed  to  a  heat  27,000  times 
greater  than  the  solar  heat  of  the  earth.  This  inten- 
sity of  heat  exceeds,  several  thousand  times,  that  of 
red-hot  iron,  and  indeed  all  the  degrees  of  heat  that 
we  are  able  to  produce.  A  simple  mass  of  vapor,  ex- 
panded to  a  thousandth  part  of  such  a  heat,  would  be 
at  once  dissipated  in  space — a  pretty  strong  indication 
that,  however  volatile  are  the  elements  of  which  com- 
ets are  composed,  they  are,  nevertheless,  capable  of 
enduring  an  inconceivable  intensity  of  both  heat  and 
cold." 

The  nucleus  of  the  comet  of  181 1,  according  to 
observation  made  near  Boston,  was  2,6 1 7  miles  in  di- 
ameter, corresponding  nearly  to  the  size  of  the  moon. 


ON    THE    DELUGE. 

The  brilliancy  with  which  it  shone,  wag  equal  to  one 
tenth  of  that  of  the  moon.  The  envelope,  or  aeriform 
covering,  surrounding  the  nucleus,  was  24.000  miles 
thick,  about  five  hundred  times  as  thick  as  the  atmos- 
phere which  encircles  the  earth  ;  making  the  diame- 
ter of  the  comet,  including  its  envelope,  50,617  miles. 
It  had  a  very  luminous  tail,  whose  greatest  length  was 
one  hundred  millions  of  miles. 

This  comet  moved,  in  its  perihelion,  with  an  almost 
inconceivable  velocity — fifteen  hundred  times  greater 
than  that  of  a  ball  bursting  from  the  mouth  of  a  can- 
non. According  to  Regiomontanus,  the  comet  of 
1472  moved  over  an  area  of  1201  in  one  day.  Brydone 
observed  a  comet  at  Palermo  in  1770,  which  passed 
through  50°  of  a  great  circle  in  the  heavens  in  24 
hours.  Another  comet,  which  appeared  in  1759, 
passed  over  41°  in  the  same  time.  The  conjecture  of 
Dr.  Hally  therefore  seems  highly  probable,  that,  (-  if  a 
body  of  such  a  size,  having  any  considerable  density^ 
and  moving  with  such  a  velocity,  were  to  strike  our 
earth,  it  would  instantly  reduce  it  to  chaos,  mingling 
its  elements  in  ruin." 

Now  have  we  not  here,  in  one  of  these  swift  wing- 
ed messengers,  who  dash  through  space  with  such 
terrific  velocity,  the  very  agent  that  changed  the  po- 
larity of  the  earth  ?  I  believe  we  have,  for  there  is 
no  other  known  natural  cause  besides  in  the  universe, 
which  could  have  done  it.  At  the  precise  time  ap- 
pointed, then,  foretold  to  Noah,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  before,  one  of  these  comets,  in  its  light- 


104  ON    THE    BELUGE. 

ning  tfpeed  probably  towards  the  sun,  must  have  come 
in  contact  with  one  of  the  poles  of  the  earth — by  the 
concussion  dragged  it  from  its  existing  polarity — and 
passed  along,  in  its  terrible  career,  leaving  our  doom- 
ed planet  to  its  fate.  And  what  must  have  been  the 
effect  of  such  a  concussion  ?  Why  just  such  a  del- 
uge as  occurred.  The  land,  being  the  more  solid 
substance,  must  have  been  submeiged  beneath  the 
yielding  water  by  the  blow,  and,  as  "  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  " — terribly  agitated  by  the  convulsion 
— came  pouring  and  foaming  in  mountain  billows  along 
over  the  earth,  the  consequence  of  that  agitation 
would  have  been,  to  Kave  filled  the  whole  atmosphere 
with  vapor,  and  caused  it  to  rain  "  forty  days  and  for- 
ty nights,"  until  by  the  influx  of  the  disturbed  ocean 
and  the  out-pouring  of  the  treasures  of  the  surcharged 
clouds,  the  whole  earth  was  completely  buried  beneath 
the  mass  of  waters,  just  as  deep  as  Moses  described  ; 
for  as  much  the  largest  space  of  our  globe  is  covered 
with  the  oceans,  and  as  they  must  have  been  forced 
from  their  beds  by  the  concussion,  there  was  certainly 
water  enough  to  overflow  the  tops  of  the  "  highest 
mountains  fifteen  cubits."  This  is  in  accordance  with 
the  opinion  of  Sir  David  Brewster,  with  regard  to  such 
an  event,  expressed  in  the  following  extract. 

"  The  transient  effect  of  a  comet  passing  near  the 
earth,  could  scarcely  amount  to  any  great  convulsion, 
(says  Dr.  Brewster,)  but  if  the  earth  were  actually  to 
receive  a  shock  from  one  of  these  bodies,  the  conse- 
quences would  be  awful.  A  new  direction  would 


ON    THE    DELUGE,  105 

be  given  to  its  rotary  motion,  and  it  would  revolve 
around  a  new  axis.  The  seas,  forsaking  their  beds, 
would  be  hurried,  by  their  centrifugal  force,  to  the 
new  equatorial  regions;  islands  and  continents,  the 
bodies  of  men  and  animals,  would  be  covered  by  the 
universal  rush  of  the  waters  to  the  new  equator,  and 
every  vestige  of  human  industry  and  genius  would 
be  destroyed.'5 

I  know  that  such  a  contingency  is  opposed  to  the 
computations  which  have  been  made  by  some  emi- 
nent philosophers  upon  this  subject.  I  will  here 
quote  an  extract,  showing  their  reasonings  and  the 
data  upon  which  they  build  their  arguments  against 
the  possibility  of  such  a  contingency,  and,  then,  at- 
tempt to  show  wherein  those  reasonings  are  very  fal- 
lacious, and  describe  the  controlling  agencies  which 
they  have  entirely  ommitted  in  their  calculations. 

"  The  chances  against  such  an  event,  however,  are 
so  very  numerous,  that  there  is  no  reason  to  dread  its 
occurrence.  The  French  government,  not  long  since, 
called  the  attention  of  some  of  h«r  ablest  mathema- 
ticians and  astronomers  to  the  solution  of  this  pro- 
blem ;  that  is,  to  determine  upon  mathematical  prin- 
ciples, how  many  chances  of  collision  the  earth  was 
exposed  to.  After  a  mature  examination,  they  report- 
ed,— "We  have  found  that,  of  281,000,000  of  chan- 
ces there  is  only  one  unfavorable, —  there  exists  but 
one  which  can  produce  a  collision  between  the  two 
bodies." 
6 


106  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

"  Admitting,  then/'  say  they,  "  for  a  moment,  that 
the  comets  which  may  strike  the  earth  with  their  neu- 
cleuses,  would  annihilate  the  whole  human  race  ;  the 
danger  of  death  to  each  individual,  resulting  from 
the  appearance  of  an  unknown  comet,  would  be  ex- 
actly equal  to  the  risk  he  would  run,  if,  in  an  urn 
there  was  only  one  single  white  ball  among  a  total 
number  of  281,000,000  balls,  and  that  his  condem- 
nation to  death  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  the  white  ball  being  produced  at  the  first  drawing." 

Now  these  reasonings  may,  it  is  true,  be  philosoph- 
ically correct,  but,  there  are  other  agencies  besides  the 
operation  of  mere  physical  law,  which  must  be  taken 
into  the  computation  to  arrive  at  a  perfectly  logical 
conclusion.  The  philosopher  or  astronomer  may 
speculate  upon  the  "  chances  "  or  contingencies  that 
certain  great  events  in  nature  may  or  may  not  happen, 
but  theologically  considered,  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  "  chance  "  or  contingency  admissible  in  the  calcu- 
lation as  to  the  possibility  or  the  probability  of  the 
occurrence  of  such  events.  The  comets  may  rush 
in  their  erratic  and  lightning  course  by  the  orbit  of 
our  earth  nine  hundred,  ninety-nine  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  times  and  yet  be  perfectly 
harmless,  terrifying  the  nations  in  their  inconceivably 
swift  and  awfully  brilliant  career.  And  why  ?  Sim- 
ply because  the  will  of  the  great  Omnipotent,  who 
has  formed  them  for  specific  purposes  and  every  where 
controls  their  movements,  chains  them  to  that  harm- 
less career  by  ligatures,  which  they  cannot  break,  and 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  107 

to  orbits  from  which  they  cannot  vary  the  minutest 
iota.  But,  as  they  rush  onward  in  their  course  to  or 
from  the  sun  the  millionth  time,  they  may,  controlled 
by  the  self  same  all  pervading  and  all  powerful  influ- 
ence, dash  right  straight  onward  to  our  doomed  plan- 
et, and  accomplish,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the 
mighty  desolation  we  have  been  considering,  and  yet, 
too,  without  the  violation  of  a  single  physical  law  of 
their  organization  ; —  for  in  the  vast  and  wonderfully 
complicated  machinery  of  the  universe,  they  were 
destined,  by  their  author,  in  the  far  reaching  and  in- 
finite counsels  of  eternity,  for  just  such  a  specific  pur- 
pose, if  formed  for  such  a  purpose  at  all.  "  Chance  " 
or  contingency,  then,  is  not  admissible  in  the  calcula- 
tion as  to  the  probability  of  their  agency  in  the  pro- 
duction of  any  specified  catastrophe  —  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  destruction  of  a  world.  That  single 
"unfavorable  one,"  in  the  «  281,000,000  of  chan- 
ces "  which  the  French  philosophers  supposed,  in  the 
extract,  to  exist,  might  have  been  the  very  one,  if  we 
allow  the  theological  admissibility  of  such  a  phrase, 
that  God  had  ordained,  when  he  constructed  the  body 
arid  established  the  all-controlling  laws  of  its  revolu- 
tion, for  the  accomplishment,  at  the  precise  moment 
predicted,  of  the  destruction,  which  we  all  know  once 
occurred. 

From  all  our  arguments  thus  far,  supported  by  va- 
rious facts  and  analogical  inferences,  drawn  from  the 
physical  sciences,  we  infer  that  the  change  of  polari- 
ty, which  the  earth  has  undergone,  since  creation,  and 


108  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

the  occurrence  of  which  took  place,  as  Astronomy 
proves,  "  about  2300  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
must  have  been  produced  by  a  comet,  as  it  dashed  by 
our  planet,  and,  that  change  pf  polarity,  occurring 
suddenly,  as  it  did,  must,  of  necessity,  have  produced 
the  deluge  and  all  its  wondrous  and  startling  phe- 
nomena. 

There  is  something  very  appropriate  and  to  the 
point,  in  the  language  of  the  extract  which  we  made 
in  our  last  lecture  from  the  Apocryphal  book  of 
Enoch,  the  "  seventh  "  antediluvian  patriarch  from 
Adam,  which  contains  a  remarkable  prophecy  respect- 
ing the  destruction  of  the  world  by  a  deluge,  and, 
which,  as  its  divine  inspiration  was  recognized  by  the 
Apostle  Jude,  is  valid  scriptural  authority  in  the  case. 
In  the  vision  there  recorded,  the  earth  is  represented 

aS    "  SINKING  INTO  THE   ABYSS  "    OR  DEEP.       NoW  this 

is  just  such  an  effect,  as  we  have  supposed  to  be  pro- 
duced by  the  blow  or  concussion  which  changed  the 
polarity  of  the  earth.  Such  a  blow  must,  as  we  have 
said,  have  submerged  the  Globe  in  the  waters  of  the 
u abyss"  and  given  the  appearance  of  "sinking." 

Taking  it  for  granted,  now,  that  we  have  thus  far, 
satisfactorily  provep,  what  we  have  attempted  to  prove, 
we  will  proceed  with  our  other  proposition  to  account 
for  other  phenomena  connected  with  this  subject. 

6th.  The  poles  of  the  earth,  before  the  deluge, 
must  have  been  at  right  angles  exactly  with  the 
plane  of  the  ecliptic,  since  the  distance  from  "  Cy- 
nosura"  to  the  star  "  Thuban  "  in  the  constellation 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  109 

Draco,  being  the  distance  which  it  was  dragged  from 
its  former  polarity,  is  about  twenty  three  and  a  half 
degrees,  that  being,  also,  exactly  the  present  inclina- 
tion of  the  poles. 

There  is  in  this  remarkable  fact,  a  natural  and  de- 
finite cause  for  the  longevity  of  the  antediluvian  race. 
If  the  poles  of  the  globe  were,  as  they  must  have 
doubtless  been,  at  right  angles  with  the  plane  of  the 
ecliptic,  then  there  could  have  been  no  change  of 
seasons  from  intense  heat  to  intense  cold,  as  there  is 
now,  as  any  scholar  will  see  at  a  glance,  for  the  sun 
would  always  have  been  at  the  equinox,  or  over  "the 
equinoctial  line,"  as  it  is  called,  and  there  would,  there- 
fore, have  always  been  equal  day  and  equal  night  the 
world  over.  This  would,  as  every  one  must  see,  have 
produced  such  an  equability,  mildness  and  balminess 
of  temperature,  as  we,  in  the  present  condition  of 
things  know  nothing  about ;  for  it  is  evident  that  the 
great  and  sudden  variations  of  temperature,  from  heat 
to  cold  and  from  cold  to  heat,  producing  storms,  tem- 
pests and  hurricanes,  which  pervade  this  planet,  are 
owing  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  to  the  inclination  of 
the  poles,  and  we  know  not  but  that  the  first  awful 
storm,  which  ^beseiged  the  condemned  earth,  might 
have  occurred  at  its  sudden  change  of  polarity. 

Owing  to  this  equable  and  balmy  temperature, 
many  of  the  most  prominent  causes,  which  now  pro- 
duce disease  in  its  ten  thousand  various  forms,  excru- 
ciating torture  and  sudden  death,  which  make  such 
furious  onsets  upon  this  "  poor  terrestrial  citadel  of 


1 10  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

man,"  human  life  must  have  been  much  longer  than 
it  is  at  present,  and  man  was  then  young  when  lie 
was  an  hundred  years  old,  in  the  vigor  and  prime  of 
manhood,  when  he  was  three  or  four  hundred  years 
old,  and  aged  only  when  he  had  attained  the  remark- 
able longevity  of  some  eight  or  nine  hundred  years. 

Just  as  soon,  however,  as  the  deluge  subsided,  and 
the  population  of  the  earth  began  to  be  multiplied, 
human  life  was  very  essentially  shortened,  caused  un- 
doubtedly, in  a  great  measure,  by  the  sudden  and  ex- 
treme variations  of  temperature,  owing  to  the  present 
inclination  of  the  poles,  and  the  consequent  change 
of  the  seasons ;  for  it  is  an  established  fact,  that  such 
variations  are  productive  of  disease  in  its  every  vari- 
ety to  an  alarming  extent,  so  that  a  person  is  now  in 
the  prime  of  manhood  at  thirty-five  or  forty  and  very 
old  at  seventy. 

One  generation,  which  now  constitutes  the  average 
life  of  man,  is  computed  to  be  but  thirty  years,  and 
the  immense  mortality,  consequent  upon  this  fact,  is 
a  standing  memorial  of  God's  displeasure  against  sin, 
and  of  the  awful  cause  which  produced  the  deluge. 

This  leads  to  a  train  of  most  melancholy  thought. 
It  is  computed  that  there  exists  upon  the  earth  at  any 
one  period  about  one  thousand  millions  of  inhabitants. 
Now,  if  thirty  years  constitute  one  generation  or  the 
average  life  of  man,  then  this  whole  vast  army  of  one 
thousand  millions  speeds  its  rapid  march  into  the  land 
of  silence  and  darkness,  during  every  successive  pe- 
riod of  thirty  years.  This  is  at  the  rate  of  thirty- 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  Ill 

three  millions  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  thirty-three  in  a  single  year, 
over  ninety-one  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  in  a  day,  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  Jive 
in  an  hour,  sixty-three  in  a  minute,  and  over  an  av- 
erage of  one  every  second  of  time — every  lick  of  the 
clock!  How  startling  the  thought  that  mankind  are 
hastening  into  eternity  with  such  a  hurricane  rush! 
How  humbling  to  the  pride  and  pomp  of  a  vain  glo- 
rious world ! 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  gen- 
eral proposition,  which  we  laid  down  for  the  guidance 
of  this  discussion,  in  our  first  lecture  upon  the  deluge, 
and  shall  for  the  want  of  time,  bestow  upon  it  but  a 
passing  glance,  considering,  as  we  do,  that  our  posi- 
tions are  abundantly  established  by  the  arguments 
under  the  head  of  the  previous  proposition. 

3d.  There  is  abundant  proof  in  Geology,  that 
some  violent  deluge  of  waters,  similar  to  that  describ- 
ed in  the  Mosaic  history,  has  once  prevailed  over  the 
whole  earth. 

To  sustain  this  proposition,  I  will  here  quote  from 
the  testimony  of  Hitchcock's  Geology,  showing  that 
there  must  have  been  a  mighty  and  violent  flood  of 
waters  at  some  remote  period,  which  formed  the  up- 
per strata  of  the  earth,  which  is  called  diluvium  or 
drift. 

"  Drift  is  distinguished  from  alluvial  deposits  :  1st. 
By  its  occurrence  in  situations  where  no  agency  at 
present  in  action  could  have  produced  it.  2.  By 


112  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

requiring,  if  not  a  different  agency  from  any  now  in 
operation  to  produce  drift,  at  least  a  greater  intensity 
of  action.  3.  By  the  evidence  of  a  great  difference 
of  climate  between  the  two  periods. 

In  the  disposition  of  drift,  we  find  the  evidence  of 
two  distinct  phases  of  action,  which  may,  however, 
have  been  the  result  of  the  same  general  cause,  ope- 
rating in  different  circumstances.  In  the  first  case, 
the  drift  has  been  carried  outward  from  the  summits 
and  axes  of  particular  mountains,  and  spread  over  the 
neighboring  plains. 

In  the  second  case,  the  agency  by  which  drift  has 
been  dispersed,  has  operated  on  a  more  extended  scale, 
and  driven  in  a  southerly  direction  over  all  the  north- 
ern hemisphere,  often  to  a  great  distance. 

To  begin  with  the  American  continent  at  the  north- 
easterly point  where  observations  to  be  depended  upon 
have  been  made,  we  find  that  the  bowlders,  spread  over 
the  southern  part  of  Nova  Scotia,  were  derived,  ac- 
cording to  Sir  Alexander  Coke  and  Messrs.  Jackson 
and  Alger,  from  the  ledges  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
province.  Through  the  whole  extent  of  Maine,  the 
evidence  is  very  striking  of  the  southerly  transport  of 
the  drift,  the  course  being  usually  a  few  degrees  east 
of  south.  And  transported  bowlders  are  even  found 
towards  the  summit  of  Mount  Katahdn,  which  is  5300 
feet  high. 

In  Massachusetts,  the  direction,  taken  by  the  drifts, 
as  shown  by  a  multitude  of  examples,  varied  from 
north  and  south  to  northwest  and  southwest ;  the  most 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  113 

usual  course  being  a  few  degrees  east  of  south.  This 
course  carried  the  current  very  obliquely  across  most 
of  the  precipitous  ridges  of  mountains  in  the  State ; 
nevertheless,  the  bowlders  held  on  in  the  general  di- 
rection with  remarkable  uniformity.  The  largest 
blocks  usually  lie  nearest  to  the  bed  from  which  they 
were  derived,  and  they  continue  to  decrease  in  size 
and  quantity,  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  for  the  dis- 
tance of  several  miles ;  sometimes  as  many  as  50  or  60  ; 
and  not  unfrequently  even  100  miles,  though  usually 
the  sea  coast  is  reached  short  of  that  distance.  But 
often  bowlders  from  the  continent  are  common  upon 
the  islands  many  miles  distant  from  the  coast ;  as  on 
Nantucket,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  Long  Island.  In 
the  western  part  of  Massachusetts,  the  mountains  are 
from  1000  to  3000  feet  high;  yet  vast  quantities  of 
bowlders  have  been  carried  over  their  precipitous 
ridges,  and  both  slopes  are  covered  with  them ;  the 
largest  being  upon  the  northern  side. 

On  Long  Island  the  drift  corresponds  to  the  rocks 
on  the  continent;  those  of  different  kinds,  always  lying 
south  of  the  ledges  from  which  they  were  derived.  In 
the  eastern  part  of  New  York,  the  course  was  south- 
easterly ;  as  in  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts. 
But  towards  the  western  part. of  the  State,  its  general 
course  appears  sometimes  to  have  been  west  of  south. 
In  the  southeasterly  part  of  the  State,  bordering  on 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  its  direction  varied  from 
south  several  degrees  west  to  southeast:  and  near  the 
city  of  N.  York,  the  course  was  N.  W.  and  S.  E.  In 
*6 


114  ON   THE    DELUGE. 

the  fossiliferous  region  of  western  New  York,  and  in 
the  States  south  of  the  western  lakes,  great  numbers 
of  bowlders  of  primitive  rocks  are  strewed  over  the 
surface,  significantly  called  lost  rocks.  These  have 
been  satisfactorily  traced  to  the  beds  from  which  they 
were  derived  in  the  west  part  of  Michigan  and  on  the 
north  side  of  the  lakes  in  Upper  Canada.  Similar 
evidence  of  a  southeasterly  drift  exists  in  Virginia. 
According  to  Dr.  Drake,  primitive  pebbles  occur  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi  as  far  south  as  Nat- 
chez. 

The  distance  to  which  bowlders  have  been  carried 
southeasterly  from  their  native  beds  in  our  country, 
has  not  been  very  satisfactorily  determined.  In  New 
England,  they  have  been  traced  rarely  more  than  100 
to  200  miles.  But  in  the  western  States  they  are 
strewed  over  a  greater  distance.  I  arn  informed  by 
the  gentleman  engaged  in  the  geological  survey  of 
of  those  States,  that  primary  bowlders  are  rarely  found 
south  of  the  river  Ohio ;  but  they  are  strewed  over 
almost  every  part  of  Ohio  and  Michigan.  Now  the 
primary  rocks  from  which  they  have  been  derived,  are 
found  on  the  north  side  of  the  great  lakes.  This  would 
make  their  longest  transit  between  400  and  600  miles. 

On  the  western  continent  the  evidences  of  a  south- 
erly direction  of  the  force  seems  to  be  decided  ;  al- 
though from  some  of  the  highest  mountains  it  was  out- 
ward from  the  axes.  In  Great  Britain  the  general 
course  was  a  little  east  of  south,  modified,  however, 
and  sometimes  very  much  changed,  by  the  shape  of 


ON   THE    DELUGE.  115 

the  mountains  ;  some  of  which,  as  the  Penine  chain, 
appear  not  to  have  been  passed  over  by  the  bowlders, 
except  at  their  lowest  points.  In  the  east  part  of 
England,  the  drift  appears  to  have  been  derived  from 
Scotland,  and  also  from  Norway.  On  the  continent 
of  Europe,  the  Netherlands,  Denmark,  the  plains  of 
the  north  of  Germany,  of  Poland  and  Russia,  are 
strewed  over  with  bowlders  and  pebbles,  which  can  be 
traced  to  the  parent  rocks  in  Sweden,  Lapland  and 
Finland  ;  in  which  countries  they  are  yet  more  nu- 
merous upon  the  surface.  In  most  cases  these  bowl- 
ders must  have  crossed  the  Baltic.  In  Sweden  the 
current  appears  to  have  set  S.  S.  W.  The  blocks  de- 
crease in  size  on  going  south,  and  finally  at  a  great 
distance  (more  than  400  miles)  they  disappear.  An 
interesting  example  of  the  dispersion  of  bowlders  in  a 
southerly  direction  in  Northern  Syria,  is  given  by  Mr. 
Beadle,  American  Missionary  in  that  country.  On  the 
coast  60  or  70  miles  north  of  Beyroot,  he  "  reached 
a  volcanic  region  with  a  remarkable  locality  of  green- 
stone. The  pebbles  from  this  locality  are  scattered 
the  whole  distance  to  Beyroot.  At  that  place  they 
are  quite  small,  but  gradually  increase  in  size  as  you 
advance  to  the  north,  and  terminate  entirely  in  this 
locality."  This  is  an  important  fact ;  because  it  proves 
the  occurrence  of  glacio-aqueous  action,  on  the  Asi- 
atic continent  much  farther  south  (about  32°  N.  lat.) 
than  had  been  before  pointed  out :  unless  it  be  upon 
the  Himalayah  mountains. 

According  to  Mr.  Darwin,  the  equatorial  regions  of 


116  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

South  America  exhibit  but  few  marks  of  glacio-aque- 
ous  action,  or  rather  they  are  destitute  of  bowlders. 
But  beyond  41°  south  latitude,  they  appear  in  Chili 
and  Patagonia.  Hence  some  geologists  infer  that  the 
phenomena  of  drift  are  limited  to  the  colder  regions 
of  the  globe.  But  De  La  Beche  describes  drift  as 
abundant  in  Jamaica,  in  the  West  Indies ;  especially 
on  the  plain  around  Kingston  ;  and  says  that  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  brought  from  the  north.  A  simi- 
lar statement  was  made  to  me  by  the  late  Prof.  Hovey, 
who  resided  two  years  in  the  West  Indies.  Prof. 
Struder  states  that  in  the  hill  country  at  the  foot  of 
the  Himalayah  Mountains  in  India,  erratic  bowlders  oc- 
cur. We  have  also  seen  above,  that  similar  phenom- 
ena occur  in  Africa,  near  Mount  Atlas,  in  N.  latitude 
about  32°.  Mr.  Darwin,  however,  attempts  to  explain 
such  cases,  and  very  probably  he  is  correct ;  though 
it  is  possible  that  high  mountains,  even  within  the 
tropics,  may  have  been  subject  to  glacio-aqueous 
agency,  though  no  marks  of  it  appear  upon  the  sur- 
face generally.  More  recently,  Sir  Robert  Schom- 
berg  has  described  enormous,  far  transported  bowl- 
ders in  British  Guiana. 

I  have  quoted  the  above  remarks  of  Prof.  Hitch- 
cock, not  because  I  agree  exactly  with  that  eminent 
scholar  in  all  his  opinions  and  inferences  ;  but  because 
the  facts,  which  he  states,  are  very  important.  In 
common  with  others,  he  refers  many  of  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  drift  to  glacio-aqueous  action,  but  I  believe 
the  whole  phenomena  can  be  referred  to  an  entirely 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  1 17 

different  agency.  If  it  was  the  effect  of  glacic-aque- 
ous  action,  is  it  reasonable  or  probable  that  such  drift 
would  have  occurred  in  the  equatorial  regions  ? 

It  will  be  observed  from  the  facts  we  have  quoted, 
that  there  was  a  current,  when  the  drift  was  deposited, 
of  tremendous  force  from  the  north  to  the  south.  This 
was  its  general  course  on  both  continents,  and  it  pre- 
vailed over  the  whole  earth,  turned  aside  occasionally 
somewhat  from  the  general  course,  by  the  obstruction 
of  intervening  mountains,  and  showing  an  agency  less 
and  less  intense  as  you  approach  the  southern  end  of 
those  continents.  We  cannot,  now,  it  seems  to  me, 
adopt  the  hypothesis,  with  any  show  of  reasonable- 
ness, that  a  general  glacio-aqueous  agency  has  thus 
swept  over  both  continents,  and  over  the  equatorial  as 
well  as  polar  regions,  with  force  enough  to  produce 
all  the  phenomena  of  the  drift.  To  what  agency, 
then,  shall  we  refer  the  production  of  all  those  phe- 
nomena? To  the  deluge,  I  think.  And  could  that 
have  produced  them  ?  If  the  deluge  was  caused  by 
the  terrible  concussion  of  a  passing  comet,  and  the 
land  was  situated  then  mostly  in  the  southern  portion, 
while  the  oceans  occupied  the  northern  portion,  we 
can  readily  conceive  what  must  have  been  the  result, 
had  that  comet  struck 'the  southern  pole,  dashing  on 
as  some  of  them  do,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  mil- 
lions  of  miles  in  an  hour.  It  would  have  driven  the 
land  of  the  south  pole  against  the  yielding  water  of 
the  north  pole.  And  what  would  have  been  the  in- 
evitable consequence  ?  Why  plainly  to  have  brought 


118  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

the  waters  of  those  oceans  with  an  irresistible  rush 
southwardly  "  over  the  continents,  in  the  very  course 
of  the  drift,  sweeping  before  it  immense  rocks  and 
bowlders,  torn  from  the  tops  of  the  mountains  that 
resisted  its  tremendous  avalanches  of  water—- avalan- 
ches produced  by  a  concussion,  of  the  force  of  which 
the  boldest  stretch  of  the  imagination  can  hardly  form 
an  adequate  conception.  Does  any  one  doubt  that 
such  an  event  could  have  produced  such  results  ? 
There  is  a  striking  illustration  to  the  point,  though 
upon  a  scale  of  power  far  more  diminutive,  which, 
doubtless,  once  occurred  in  the  valley  of  the  Connec- 
ticut river.  There  is  every  appearance  that  Mount 
Tom  and  Mount  Holyoke,  near  Northampton,  Mass- 
chusetts,  were  once  united,  and  formed  the  barrier  of 
a  large  lake,  which  flowed  above  them ;  for,  into  the  up- 
per side,  five  or  six  hundred  feet  above  the  base  of 
Holyoke,  the  rocks  are  water  worn  all  along  the  range, 
at  the  probable  surface  of  the  lake,  in  some  pla- 
ces eight  or  ten  feet.  In  the  process  of  time,  that 
lake  broke  through  its  rocky  barrier,  split  the  moun- 
tain in  twain,  cutting  its  way  down  to  the  pres- 
ent bed  of  the  river  some  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet 
from  the  summit,  leaving  Mount  Tom  on  the  one  side 
and  Mount  Holyoke  on  the  other,  turning  rocks  out 
of  their  original  bed  that  would  weigh  thousands  of 
tons,  and  sweeping  the  principal  mass  five  miles  south, 
and  forming  the  falls  of  South  Hadley.  Professor 
Silliman,  who  has  examined  the  mountain  pass,  takes 
the  same  view  of  the  subject.  Now  if  a  lake  of  that 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  119 

size,  with  no  uncommon  extraneous  cause  to  have 
produced  an  increased  pressure,  could  have  torn  its 
way  thus  through  the  solid  rocks  of  a  mountain  and 
swept  the  mass  down  from  five  to  ten  miles  below,  is 
there  any  improbability  in  the  supposition,  that,  when 
the  mighty  oceans,  aided  by  a  tremendous  extraneous 
concussion,  came  thundering  with  their  mountain  bil- 
lows along  over  the  land,  all  the  phenomena,  presented 
by  the  drift,  should  have  been  produced  ?  I  conceive 
not,  for  the  force  of  the  resisting  water  of  the  ocean, 
under  such  circumstances  must  have  been  inconceiva- 
bly greater  than  that  of  the  lake,  leaving  its  deposits 
of  drift  on  the  southern  side  of  the  hills  and  moun- 
tains as  it  passed  along. 

As  we  should  naturally  suppose,  if  such  a  catastro- 
phe happened,  as  we  have  inferred,  the  land  would 
have  emerged  from  the  water,  when  it  rose  above  it, 
at  the  north  pole  or  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  where 
the  main  body  of  it  actually  now  is,  while  the  wa- 
ters, forced  over  by  the  concussion,  would  have  re- 
mained more  in  the  southern  hemisphere  which  is 
actually  now  the  case. 

From  important  discoveries  in  the  geological  strat- 
ifications of  the  globe,  there  is  further  testimony 
that  the  earth  has  not  only  been  changed  in  its 
polarity,  by  some  terrible  concussion,  sufficiently  pow- 
erful to  do  if,  but  that  it  has  thus  been  shoved 
through  the  yielding  waters  of  the  ocean,  from  the 
south  to  the  north.  We  infer  this  from  the  fact  that 
the  organic  remains,  both  of  animals  and  vegetables, 
found  in  the  drift,  as  well  as  in  the  lower  stratifica- 


120  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

tions  of  the  northern  and  friged  zones,  indicate  that 
those  zones  were  once  located  at  or  near  the  equator. 

Auricarias,  the  living  species  of  which  exist  only 
in  tropical  climates,  are  found  in  a  fossil  state  in  Great 
Britain  alone,  while  the  elephant  is  found  in  the  fos- 
iliferous  stratifications  in  the  northern  parts  of  Europe 
Asia  and  America.  In  the  frozen  mud  and  gravel  of 
Siberia  are  also  embedded  the  rhinoceros  and  ele- 
phant, natives  of  the  torid  zone,  as  if  they  were  sud- 
denly surprised  and  overwhelmed  by  some  torrent  in 
the  region  of  their  proper  locality.  I  might  multiply 
thousands  of  specimens  both  in  the  drift  and  in  the 
lower  fossiliferous  stratifications,  which  would  go  to 
prove,  that  the  former  equatorial  regions  must,  by  some 
gigantic  and  resistless  force,  have  been  pushed  north- 
ward ;  but  those  which  I  have  noticed  must  suffice. 
Afow  well  selected  and  incontrovertable  facts  are  as 
conclusive  as  a  million.  And  now  we  come  to  the 
consideration  of  our  closing  general  proposition. 

4th.  In  harmony  with  every  physical  fact  and  law, 
reason  unites  her  important  testimony,  with  science, 
to  establish  the  undoubted  certainty  of  such  an  event, 
as  a  universal  deluge.  And  what  is  that  testimony, 
so  important  ?  Why,  it  is  simply  this.  Any  event, 
recorded  as  having  happened  in  ages  past,  and  proven 
by  such  an  abundant  array  of  testimony,  drawn  from 
the  three  sources  of  History,  Astronomy  and  Geolo- 
gy, as  we  have  drawn,  must  be  true, — must  certainly 
have  occurred.  Any  one,  who  would  doubt  it,  would 
almost  doubt  the  very  evidence  of  his  own  senses. 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  121 

Any  one,  who  would  "allegorize"  away  the  great 
fact,  so  to  speak,  into  whimsical  and  insane  notions 
and  mysticisms  like  those  of  Swedenborg,  would 
"  allegorize"  away  the  fixed  stars,  which  stand  as  an 
enduring  memorial  of  its  truth  ;  and,  with  an  unmean- 
ing jargon  of  words,  or  subtle  sophistries,  would  prove 
that  those  twinkling  luminaries  do  not  exist  in  reality, 
but  are  only  a  vast  congeries  of  splendid  deceptions. 
Any  one,  who  would  not  believe  the  mass  of  testimo- 
ny, which  has  been  brought  to  prove  the  occurrence 
of  a  universal  deluge  from  so  many  varied  sources — 
from  every  point  of  the  compass, — has  shut  his  mind, 
with  inflexible  obstinacy,  and  is  determined  not  to  be 
convinced,  even  though  the  evidence,  against  such 
unreasonable  scepticism,  should  be  as  brilliant  as  the 
sun  at  noonday.  Let  such  an  one,  however,  know 
for  his  consolation,  that  he  might,  with  just  as  much 
reason,  expect,  that,  with  one  wave  of  his  hand,  he 
could  sweep  the  constellations  from  the  vault  of  the 
sky  and  blot  the  stars  all  out  of  heaven,  as  to  expect, 
by  the  puny  array  of  the  resources  of  his  purblind 
intellect,  or  the  pompous  display  of  his  rush  light 
reason,  to  invalidate,  undermine  or  bring  into  disre- 
pute a  single  evidence  of  the  authenticity  of  divine 
revelation  ;  for,  let  him  know,  that  the  great  propo- 
sition— "  Truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail" — stands 
against  the  assaults  of  his  puerile,  impotent  and  im- 
pious objections,  like  a  rock  in  the  centre  of  the 
ocean ; — yea  and  will  continue  to  stand,  when  his 
palsied  arm  shall  be  powerless  in  death,  or  his  brazen 


ON    THE    DELUGE. 

brow  of  impiousness,  which  has  been  unblushingly 
lifted  up  against  heaven,  shall  be  scathed  and  scarred 
by  the  unerring  bolts  of  the  Thunderer,  who  sent  the 
awful  desolations  of  that  deluge  over  the  earth,  as  a 
punishment  for  the  rank  impiety  and  infidelity  of  the 
antediluvian  race.  - 

Having,  thus  far,  considered  two  important  epochs 
in  the  history  of  the  past,  the  creation  of  our  earth 
and  its  desolation  by  a  deluge,  which  extinguished 
all  the  animated  forms  of  existence  from  its  surface, 
except  those  which  were  saved  in  the  ark  to  re-people 
it  again,  we  will  now,  in  closing  this  Lecture,  turn 
our  attention,  for  a  moment,  to  two  eyents  in  the  fu- 
ture, which  will,  if  possible,  be  more  awfully  inter- 
esting ; — and  taking  it  for  granted  that  there  is  no 
need  of  further  argument  in  favor  of  the  anthentici- 
ty  of  the  Bible,  we  shall  derive  our  information  with 
regard  to  these  two  events  from  this  source. 

1st.  There  is  a  day  coming,  known  only  in  the 
deep  counsels  of  eternity,  when  this  system  shall 
again  be  reduced  to  its  original  elements  by  a  confla- 
gration. It  is  predicted  in  the  following  sublime  de- 
scription. Isaiah  says — "  The  heavens  shall  be  rolled 
together  as  a  scroll,  and  all  their  hosts  shall  fall  down, 
as  the  leaf  falleth  off  from  the  vine  and  as  the  falling 
fig  from  the  fig  tree."  St.  Peter  says — "  the  heavens 
shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise  and  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the 
works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up,"  and  again 
he  says  in  another  place — "  the  heavens  being  on 


ON    THE    DELUGE.  123 

fire  shall  be  dissolved  and  the  elements  shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat."  Doubtless  this  wonderful  event 
shall  present  the  same  grand  spectacle  to  astronomers 
of  other  worlds,  if  such  there  are,  that  the  burning 
star  did  in  1572  to  Tycho  Brahe — a  conflagration, 
that  shall  not  only  completely  vaporize  our  earth,  but, 
indeed,  the  whole  system,  reducing  it  to  its  original 
condition.  Dr.  Young  in  his  Night  Thoughts  thus 
graphically  describes  the  event. 

At  the  destined  hour, 

By  the  loud  trumpet  summoned  to  the  charge, 
See  all  the  formidable  sons  of  fire, 
Eruptions,  earthquakes,  comets,  lightnings,  play 
Their  various  engines ;  all  at  once  disgorge 
Their  blazing  magazines,  and  take,  by  storm, 
This  poor  terrestrial  citadel  of  man. 

Amazing  period !  when  each  mountain's  height 
Outburns  Vesuvius  ;  rocks  eternal  pour 
Their  melted  mass,  as  rivers  once  they  pour'd  ; 
Stars  rush,  and  final  ruin  fiercely  drives 
Her  ploughshare  o'er  creation ! 

At  midnight,  when  mankind  is  wrapt  in  peace, 
And  worldly  fancy  feeds  on  golden  dreams, 
To  give  rnore  dread  to  man's  most  dreadful  hour  ; 
At  midnight,  'tis  presumed,  this  pomp  will  burst 
From  tenfold  darkness,  sudden  as  the  spark 
From  smitten  steel ;  fiom  nitrous  grain  the  blaze, 
Man,  starting  from  his  cou :h,  shall  sleep  no  more ! 
The  day  is  broke,  which  never  more  shall  close  ! 
Above,  around,  beneath,  amazement  all ! 
Terror  and  glory  joined  in  their  extremes ! 
Our  God  in  grandeur,  and  our  world  on  fire  I 

Out  of  the  resulting  elements,  the  earth  shall  be  re- 
formed again.  St.  Peter  says — "  there  shall  be  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth."  The  Revelator  says  :  "  I  saw 
a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  for  the  first  heavens 
and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away."  So  then, 
Omnipotence  will  again  reform  it  after  its  destruction. 
But  it  will  be  organized  very  different  from  what  it 


124  ON    THE    DELUGE. 

is  at  present.  According  to  St.  John  there  will  be 
"  no  more  sea" — "  no  night" — nor  "  light  of  the 
sun,"  for  "  the  throne  of  God"  shall  be  transferred  to 
it ;  and  he  shall  be  "  its  light."  Yes,  it  will,  as  it 
were,  be  the  future  palace  of  the  "  King  Eternal" — 
perhaps  be  one  immense  planet,  formed  out  of  the 
chaotic  materials  of  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Herschel,  and 
the  other  planets  of  our  system  commingled  with  the 
elements  of  our  globe — be  the  great  central  orb  to 
the  "  new  heavens,"  and  be  furnished  for  the  blissful 
and  everlasting  residence  of  the  sanctified  and  saved, 


LECTURE    VI. 

REMARKS  UPON  THE  ESSENTIAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CREATION, 
AND  THE  ORGANIC  LAWS  OF  THE  WONDERFUL  AGENT  OF 
ELECTRICITY  EXPLAINED  AND  ILLUSTRATED. 

As  our  attention  has  hitherto,  in  the  five  previous 
lectures  of  this  series,  been  confined  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  globe  and  its  elements,  and,  as,  in  the  four 
lectures  which  are  to  succeed  this,  we  shall  minutely 
investigate  the  essential  properties  and  qualities  of 
Light  and  certain  other  imponderable  principles  iden- 
tical with  it,  it  is  appropriate  and,  indeed,  necessary, 
for  a  full  understanding  of  the  subjects  discussed,  to 
introduce  here  an  intermediate  or  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  previous  lectures  and  those  which  are  to 
follow,  by  an  examination  of  what  may  be  denomina- 
ted the  essential  principles  of  creation,  and  an  illus- 
tration of  the  organic  laws  and  peculiar  operations  of 
the  wonderderful  agent  of  electricity.  This  I  cannot 
better  do,  than  by  stating  as  the  basis  of  our  argument, 
the  following  broad  and  comprehensive  proposition : 

There  are,  of  the  productions  of  creative  power, 
three  distinct  essences,  or  essential  principles  in  the 
universe,  and  BUT  three,  and  every  thing  created  and 
finite,  of  which  we  either  have  or  can  have  any  con- 
ception, whether  it  be  animate  or  inanimate — physi- 


126       ORGANIC  LAWS  OF  ELECTRICITY. 

cat,  animal  or  intellectual,  can  be  referred  to  one  or 
the  other  of  these  three  essential  principles,  as  to  its 
native,  legitimate,  proper  basis  or  substratum. 

This  proposition,  it  will  be  seen,  embraces  within 
its  comprehensive  scope  the  whole  illimitable  domain 
of  science,  both  visible  and  invisible.  Sceptics  in  the 
republic  of  letters,  or  old  fashioned  book- worms,  who 
regard  the  slightest  encroachment  on  what  they  may 
have  read,  as  sacrilege,  will  doubtless  call  this  propo- 
sition sweeping  and  chimerical.  But  sweeping  and 
chimerical,  as  it  may,  however,  seem  to  them  or  others, 
it  is  believed,  nevertheless,  to  be  capable  of  satisfac- 
tory and  even  perfectly  conclusive  and  logical  demon- 
stration, as  will  be  shown  hereafter. 

The  names  of  those  three  fundamental  principles 
we  will  here  give  in  their  natural  order,  together  with 
a  concise  definition  of  their  properties. 

The  first  we  shall  call  Ponderable  Matter,  it  being 
the  same  technical  epithet,  which  is  used  in  standard 
works.  By  this  term  we  include  all  those  substances 
of  every  name  and  form,  which  are  tangible  —  which 
can  be  noticed  or  appreciated  by  most  of  the  senses 
by  which  we  acquire  ideas  of  external  objects  — 'which 
are  measurable,  and  which  have  magnitude  and  weight. 

The  properties  or  qualities  of  this  first  essential  prin- 
ciple of  the  created  unverse  we  consider  to  be  perfect 
inertness  and  inherent  dormancy,  meaning  by  those 
terms,  that  a  substance  under  their  influence  has  no 
activity  or  disposition  to  activity  in  itself — that  it  has 
therefore  no  power  of  changing  itself,  or  of  commu- 


ORGANIC     LAWS    OF    ELECTRICITY.  127 

nicating  motion  to  iself,  either  by  component  parts, 
or  in  the  aggregate  or  whole  —  that  it  would,  there- 
fore, remain  forever  changeless,  as  when  left  at  crea- 
tion, and  forever  unvaried  by  modification,  a  cold,  mo- 
tionless mass  of  inertia  or  sluggishness,  unless  opera- 
ted upon  by  foreign  agencies,  sufficiently  powerful  to 
overcome  that  inherent  disposition  to  remain  forever 
sluggish  and  unmoved. 

The  second  essential  principle  embraced  in  our 
proposition  we  shall  call  Imponderable  Matter,  it  be- 
ing, also,  the  same  technical  epithet  by  which  it  is 
designated  in  the  text  books.  By  this  term  I  include 
Electricity,  Galvanism,  Magnetism,  Light,  Heat  or  Ca- 
loric, Gravitation,  the  Attraction  of  Cohesion,  Capil- 
lary Attraction  and  Chemical  Attraction.  These  are 
all,  in  their  nature,  alike  intangible.  That  is  they  can- 
not be  handled  so  as  to  be  examined  like  ponderable 
substances  of  the  first  class.  They  are  inappreciable 
by  most  of  the  senses  ;  immesurable,  and  have  no 
perceptible  magnitude  or  weight. 

This  imponderable  principle  is  entirely  distinct  and 
different  from  ponderable  matter,  not  derivable  from 
it,  but  perfectly  independent  of  it,  and  yet  having 
such  a  natural  affinity  for  it,  by  the  inscrutable  attrac- 
tion of  opposites,  which  seems  to  be  an  immutable 
law  of  nature,  as  to  pervade  it  completely.  Not  a 
single  particle  of  ponderable  matter  is  there  in  crea- 
tion —  not  an  atom  borne  on  the  atmosphere  —  not 
a  single  mote  floating  in  the  sunbeam,  but  what  is 


128  ORGANIC     LAWS     OF    ELECTRICITY. 

attended  by  its  appropriate  share  of  the  impondera- 
ble principle,  when  all  the  elements  are  in  equilibrium. 
This  wonderful  and  mysterious  agent  is  extremely 
subtle  —  so  subtle  that  it  is  invisible  and  impercepti- 
ble, except  when  condensed  into  the  electric  spark, 
or  accumulated  by  the  galvanic  battery,  or  poured 
down  upon  us  in  the  light  of  day,  or  gathered  into 
focal  intensity  by  the  lens  or  burning  glass,  or  explo- 
ded in  the  thunderbolt  of  the  clouds,  or  collected  to- 
gether into  that  capacious  reservoir  of  electric  fire  — 
the  Sun.  Elasticity  unbounded  is  one  of  its  charac- 
teristics and  its  activity  is  inherent  and  more  restless 
than  the  ocean  wave,  it  being  always  in  motion  ;  for, 
if  the  balance  of  the  elements  be  disturbed  at  all,  and 
there  be,  any  where  in  creation,  a  partial  vacuum,  or 
an  abstraction  of  the  subtle  fluid,  so  far  as  to  make 
that  spot  minus  with  regard  to  surrounding  regions, 
it  rushes  in  with  irresistible  velocity,  and  restores  that 
disturbed  balance.  Rapidity  inconceivable  character- 
izes its  movements.  If  impeded  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree in  its  everlasting  career,  and  accumulated  and 
restrained  by  appropriate  exciting  causes,  it  exhibits 
a  fearful  energy  —  an  energy  perfectly  overwhelming, 
and  bursts  its  bands  with  infinitely  greater  ease  than 
did  the  unshorn  Sampson. 

-  It  is  that  agent,  independent  of  ponderable  matter, 
at  which  we  have  already  hinted,  which  pervades  it 
omnipresently,  according  to  certain  definite  laws,  hav- 
ing a  natural  affinity  for  it,  and  possessing  inherent 
power  sufficient  to  overcome  its  inertia  or  sluggishness, 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  129 

to  work  all  the  chemical  changes  and  produce  all  the 
motions  in  it,  whether  on  the  scale  of  atoms  or  of 
worlds  or  of  constellations  of  worlds.  It,  in  fact, 
seems  to  be  the  very  representative  of  Deity  himself, 
expressly  appointed  and  commissioned  to  produce  the 
multiform  and  almost  countless  transformations  of 
matter  —  all  the  chemical  changes  of  decomposition 
and  re-composition,  which  are  constantly  progressing 
around  us  and  throughout  nature,  and,  by  its  inherent 
energy,  and  the  activity  which  it  imparts,  to  keep  up 
the  motions  ot  the  universe  of  material  systems,  and 
to  invigorate  both  the  animal  and  vegetable  life,  in  its 
myriad  forms,  with  which  those  systems  are  furnished. 
Some  materialist  may  here  draw  the  confident  con- 
clusion from  what  I  have  asserted,  that  imponderable 
matter  is  mind,  and  that  it  is  the  only  Deity  in  the 
universe.  No  such  conclusion,  however,  results  ne- 
cessarily from  the  premises.  Instead  of  favoring  the 
doctrine  of  materialism  in  the  slightest  degree,  I  pledge 
myself  to  be  prepared  to  show,  whenever  necessary, 
that,  from  this  source,  alone,  can  be  drawn  the  most 
powerful  and  convincing  arguments  which  can  possibly 
be  drawn  from  nature  to  overthrow  that  doctrine.  I 
am  not  one  of  tho.«e,  who  tremble  to  acknowledge  an 
undeniable  tact,  lest  that  fact  should  seem,  forsooth, 
CO  militate  against  my  creed.  The  God  of  nature 
never  could  have  created  an  agent,  or  have  establish- 
ed a  law,  which,  when  discovered  and  fully  under- 
stood, would  militate  against  his  divinity,  or  undeify 
himself  in  the  estimation  of  a  sound  philosopher. 
7 


130  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

We  must  never  deny  the  evidence  of  our  senses,  and 
discredit  incontrovertible  facts,  lest,  peradventure  our 
belief  should  be  overthrown  by  them,  but  should  en- 
deavor, by  ingenuous  and  candid  investigation,  to  as- 
certain how  they  can  be  reconciled  with  our  belief. 
We  now  come,  naturally,  to  the  third  essential 
principle  of  the  created  universe,  which  we  denom- 
inate mind.  Pure  etheriality  seems  to  be  its  con- 
stituent property,  which  term,  we  think,  will  correctly 
define  its  nature,  if,  in  the  acknowledged  vagueness, 
looseness  and  imperfection  of  language,  all  shall  at- 
tach to  it  an  appropriate  signification.  The  intellect 
is  no  more  a  substance,  or  the  emanation  of  a  sub- 
stance, than  thought  or  a  train  of  thought  is  substance. 
As  the  emanations  and  exhalations,  or  the  minute  par- 
ticles flying  off  from  matter  are  matter  also,  so  mind 
is,  and,  of  necessity,  must  be,  in  the  inherent  fitness 
of  things,  of  the  same  nature  of  its  exhalations,  which 
we  know  are  thought,  intelligence,  moral  feeling  and 
volition,  properties  which  may  be  truly  said  to  be 
something,  or  realities,  though  there  be  no  material- 
ity about  them.  Who,  for  instance,  would  affirm  that 
an  idea  is  matter  ?  Has  it  length,  breadth  and  thick- 
ness, either  perceptible  of  imperceptible,  as  have  all 
the  particles  of  matter,  either  ponderable  or  impon- 
derable, how  minute  soever  they  may  be  ?  To  f1^- 
tempt  seriously  to  disprove  such  a  proposition  would 
be  too  much  like  battling,  with  Quixotic  valiancy,  the 
unsubstantial  shadows  which  chase  each  other  over 
the  landscape.  Such  an  attempt  would  sufficiently 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  131 

establish  a  man's  claim  to  the  diploma  of  a  confirmed 
Bedlamite,  and  would  entitle  him,  beyond  all  contro- 
versy, to  a  strait  jacket,  and  an  introduction  to  the 
benevolent  hospitalities  of  a  mad  house.  Such  a  prop- 
osition is  too  preposterously  absurd  for  a  single  mo- 
ment's belief.  The  influence  which  the  intellect,  or 
its  controling  power?  the  will,  exerts  over  the  other 
two  fundamental  principles  of  creation  entirely  pre- 
cludes such  a  belief.  For,  as  the  imponderable  prin- 
ciple controls  the  ponderable,  so  mind  controls  both 
the  one  and  the  other. 

The  intellect  or  will  of  the  carpenter,  for  instance, 
controls  the  muscles  of  his  physical  frame,  through  the 
action  of  the  nervous  fluid  or  animal  electricity  upon 
those  muscles,  and,  by  the  strength  and  motions  of 
his  physical  frame,  so  controlled,  the  edifice  is  con- 
structed, and  the  grand,  the  beautiful  and  the  sym- 
metrical in  architecture  are  made  to  adorn  the  dome, 
the  temple,  and  the  various  other  fabrications  of  the 
mechanic  arts. 

The  imponderable  principle  is,  also,  subject  direct- 
ly to  the  volition  of  intellect,  although  it  has  no  guid- 
ing will  of  its  own. 

A  Franklin,  for  instance,  could  extract  the  subtle 
fires  from  the  storm-cloud,  as  it  passed  overhead, 
with  his  electrical  kite,  and  conduct  the  red  and  crash- 
ing bolt,  harmless  to  the  earth  by  his  lightning  rod. 

Galvani  and  his  successors  could  extract  the  same 
fiery  fluid  from  a  certain  association  of  zinc,  copper 


132  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

and  the  acids,  in  a  stream  strong  enough  to  burn  iron 
like  tinder. 

There  is,  in  the  universe,  still  another  Principle  — 
if  it  be  right  to  call  the  same  a  principle  —  whom  I 
have  not  included  in  my  classification,  because  he 
comes  not  within  the  list  of  created  substances.  His 
attributes  are  Omniscience,  Omnipresence,  Omnipo- 
tence, and  Eternity,  as  they  must,  of  necessity  be,  in 
the  very  inherent  nature  and  fitness  of  things,  if  un- 
created or  self-existent,  for  an  uncreated  agent  could 
not  possibly  be  otherwise  than  infinite. 

This  self-existent,  eternal  principle  we  call  Deity. 
Beyond  Him  we  hold  that  there  can  be  nothing  either 
created  or  uncreated,  finite  or  infinite.  He  embraces 
and  controls  and  pervades  and  governs  everything. — 
As  electricity  governs  inert  matter,  and  created  mind 
governs  both,  in  a  certain  sense,  so  this  fourth  mys- 
terious, incomprehensible,  all  pervading  Essence  gives 
immutable,  irresistible  laws  to  the  whole  three  in  an 
unlimited  sense,  and  does  precisely  what  He  wills 
throughout  the  whole  illimitable  vastness  of  both  du- 
ration and  space. 

Having  thus  stated  what  I  consider  to  be  the  three 
essential  created  principles  of  the  universe,  I  shall 
now  particularly  examine  the  organic  laws  and  pecu- 
liar relations  of  one  of  them. 

Electricity  was  first  detected  or  discovered  in  a  sub- 
stance called,  in  English,  amber,  which  substance  in 
the  original  Greek  was  called  electron  from  which  the 
term  electricity  is  derived.  This  word  electron  is  al- 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  133 

so  derived  from  electore,  another  Greejt  word,  which 
signifies  the  beaming  Sun,  and,  if  it  does  not  indicate 
that  the  ancients  supposed  the  Sun  to  be  the  fountain 
of  this  subtle  fluid,  it  at  least  developes  a  remarkable 
accidental  coincidence. 

Thales,  a  celebrated  Grecian  of  the  city  of  Miletus 
in  Ionia,  who  lived  600  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
and  who  was  the  contemporary  of  Pythagoras,  is  re- 
puted to  be  the  discoverer  of  this  remarkable  proper- 
ty of  amber.  He  ascertained,  probably  by  accident, 
that  when  rubbed,  it  acquired  the  power  of  attracting 
to  itself  certain  light  bodies  in  its  immediate  vicinity. 
For  the  want  of  amber,  the  student  can  illustrate  the 
phenomenon  with  a  stick  of  sealing  wax. 

Familiarity  with  facts  should  never  be  suffered  to 
lessen  their  interest,  nor  should  we  overlook  the  sim- 
plest truths,  for,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  those  sim- 
plest truths,  often  leads  to  the  discovery  of  the  grand- 
est and  most  sublime  ;  while  he  that  despises  the  "  day 
of  small  things,"  will,  probably,  never  live  to  see  the 
day  of  large  things.  The  most  magnificent  results  of- 
ten thus  originate.  The  dim  dawning  of  the  morning 
precedes  the  blaze  of  the  meridian.  The  diminutive 
acorn  springs  up  and  becomes  an  oak,  monarch  of  the 
forest.  The  majestic  Amazon  first  issues  as  a  little 
rill  on  the  eastern  declivity  of  the  Andes.  A  neg- 
lected spark  kindles  a  conflagration  and  millions  of 
wealth  are  lost  in  ashes.  So  with  a  thousand  other 
facts.  Their  origin  is  simple  but  their  results  are 
grand. 


134  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

As  the  sealing  wax  before  being  rubbed  is  passed 
over  little  bits  of  paper  prepared  for  the  purpose,  they 
are  perfectly  quiescent.  Both  are  in  a  state  of  natu- 
ral equilibrium  or  balance.  Having  excited  it  how- 
ever, by  friction,  it  immediately  exhibits  a  singular 
power  unknown  to  it  before.  In  this  little  experi- 
ment, trifling  and  simple  as  it  may  appear,  there  are 
treasured  up  volumes  of  wonder  and  inscrutable  mys- 
tery, enough  to  puzzle  for  ages,  the  clear  sighted  pen- 
etration of  a  Newton  himself.  What  is  it  that  first 
diffuses  over  those  bits  of  paper,  a  tremulous  quiver, 
then  sets  them  upright  as  if  alive,  and  then  makes 
them  leap  up,  as  if  either  in  affection  or  in  anger,  to 
the  cause  of  their  momentary  animation  ?  Echo  only 
answers — "  what  is  it  ?"  The  chemist  is  puzzled  and 
silent,  the  books  answer  not,  and  no  one  can  tell. 
The  influence  of  the  charmed  sealing  wax  over  those 
bits  of  paper  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
most  gigantic  intellect.  All  that  can  be  known  is 
that  it  is  Electricity,  and  that  its  operations  are  guided 
by  certain  fixed  and  immutable  laws. 

No  wonder  Thales  stood  in  astonishment,  when  he 
made  the  discovery.  No  wonder  he  thought  the  am- 
ber animated  with  a  principle  of  vitality.  The  emo- 
tions of  the  mind,  when  a  grand  fundamental  or  ele- 
mentary truth  first  breaks  upon  it,  are  unutterable, 
and  cannot  be  apprehended  by  the  dull  phlegmatic, 
who  always  plods  along  in  the  beaten  path  of  his 
grandfathers.  Such  emotions  often  find  vent  in  ex- 
clamations, similar  to  those  of  Archimedes  in  Greek, 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  135 

when  he  had  discovered  the  solution  of  a  difficult 
problem,  upon  which  he  had  been  long  and  intensely 
studying.  In  ecstacy  he  exclaimed — "  eureka — eu- 
reka"— "  I  have  found  it — 1  have  found  it" 

From  the  time  of  Thales  to  that  of  Theophrastus, 
a  disciple  of  Aristotle,  who  lived  between  two  and 
three  centuries  after  him,  no  new  discoveries  were 
made  in  electricity,  which  is  somewhat  surprising, 
since  it  is  no  local  or  occasional  agent,  but  coeval  with 
time,  pervading  all  substances  omnipresently,  and  be- 
ing the  palpable  cause  of  some  of  the  grandest  scenes 
in  nature. 

In  the  work  of  Theophrastus-,  entitled  in  Greek, 
"  Peri  Lithone"  he  ascribes  the  same  property,  which 
Thales  discovered  in  electron,  to  the  lapis  lyncurius, 
the  substance  now  called  tourmaline.  "It  possess- 
es," says  he,  "  an  attractive  power,  like  amber,  and, 
as  they  say,  attracts  not  only  straws  and  leaves,  but 
copper  also  and  iron,  if  in  small  particles." 

From  the  period  of  Theophrastus,  no  allusion  is 
made  by  authors,  for  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
to  any  but  the  discoveries  already  noticed,  and,  there- 
fore more  than  twenty  three  centuries  elapsed  from 
the  observations  of  Thales,  before  any  material  addi- 
tion was  made  to  the  stock  of  electrical  knowledge. 
Since  that,  for  the  last  two  centuries,  its  accumula- 
tions have  been  vastly  more  rapid  and  increasingly 
important. 

Amber  and  a  great  variety  of  other  substances  are 
capable  of  exhibiting  electrical  phenomena.  Friction 


136  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

is,  generally  speaking,  the  cause  of  the  exhibition  of 
such  phenomena.  When  they  are  made  by  friction 
to  exhibit  those  appearances,  they  are  said  to  be  elec- 
trified or  electrically  excited,  and  the  power  of  attrac- 
tion, which  they  then  exhibit  over  contiguous  light 
bodies  is  denominated  electrical  attraction. 

**  ft* 

But  this  is  not  the  only  power  manifested,  or  the 
only  influence  exerted,  by  this  agent,  over  bodies  or 
in  conjunction  with  their  own  properties.  There  is  a 
repulsive  as  well  as  an  attractive  force.  This  attrac- 
tion and  repulsion,  depend,  as  will  be  seen,  upon  the 
different  electrical  states  of  different  bodies. 

For  illustration,  rub  a  glass  tube.  It  becomes  elec- 
trically excited.  Hold  it  over  little  bits  of  paper. 
They  are  attracted  towards  it  from  some  distance,, 
and  with  considerable  force.  But  you  perceive  that 
the  moment  they  come  in  contact,  they  receive  a  por- 
tion of  the  electricity,  which  attracted  them  and  are 
immediately  repelled.  Dropping,  however,  upon  some 
other  substance,  they  impart  to  that  substance  a  por- 
tion of  the  electricity,  which  they  received  from  the 
glass  and  are  again  attracted  towards  it,  though  with 
less  force  than  before,  because  it  is  less  excited  than 
before,  having  in  the  first  contact  lost  a  portion  of  its 
superabundant  electricity.  This  alternate  attraction 
and  repulsion  continues,  though  more  and  more  feebly> 
until  the  excited  substance  has  lost  entirely  its  elec- 
tric charge,  and  has  returned  to  its  natural  state.  Ifc 
then  exhibits  no  attractive  powers  whatever.  Contig- 
uous light  bodies,  however  light  and  easy  moved,  re- 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  137 

main  perfectly  unaffected  and  quiescent  at  its  ap- 
proach. 

Another  piece  of  apparatus,  by  which  attraction 
and  repulsion  are  still  more  forcibly  and  amusingly 
illustrated,  is  what  is  called  the  apparatus  for  the 
dancing  figures,  by  which,  pieces  of  paper,  or  images 
cut  from  paste  board,  or  the  pith  of  elder,  are  made 
to  dance  between  two  plates,  by  the  action  and  reac- 
tion of  positive  and  negative  electricities. 

How  wonderful  the  agency  here  exhibited  ?  Who 
does  not  look  with  astonishment  upon  the  mock  crea- 
tive and  life  giving  energy,  which  electricity  displays. 
Had  some  chemist  made  an  exhibition  like  this  in  the 
dark  ages,  without  explanation,  or  even  in  the  days  of 
Salem  witchcraft,  it  would  have  rung  throughout  the 
country,  that  he  fyad  made  a  league  with  the  evil  one, 
and  he  would,  as  a  compensation  for  his  wisdom  and 
wit,  have  stood  a  pretty  good  chance  to  get  a  roasting 
for  a  wizzard.  There  is  a  case  on  record,  directly  in 
point.  John  Faust,  an  ingenious  German,  by  the  in- 
vention of  types,  was  enabled,  during  the  dark  ages, 
not  only  to  publish  books  much  faster,  but  also  much 
cheaper  than  before.  This  newly  discovered  art  he 
kept  secret  for  a  time,  and  hence  originated  the  nur- 
sery legend  of  Dr.  Faustus  and  the  devil,  in  which 
he  is  represented  as  calling  to  his  aid  unlawfully  the 
spirit  of  darkness. 

Our  observations  thus  far,  have  been  the  means  of 
ascertaining  these  three  facts  : 


139  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

1st.  Bodies  electrically  excited  attract  bodies  un- 
excited.  , 

2d.  Two  bodies  electrically  excited,  as  ivhen  one 
excited  body  has  imparted  a  portion  of  its  electrici- 
ty to  an  unexcited  body,  mutually  repel  each  other. 
And, 

3d.  Two  in  their  natural  state  have  no  percepti- 
ble influence  upon  each  other,  but  are  perfectly  qui- 
escent. 

It  follows,  then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  these 
three  facts  lay  the  foundation  for  three  distinct  pro- 
positions. 

1st.   Opposite  electrical  states  attract. 

2d.  Similar  electrical  states  repel.     And, 

3d.  When  bodies  are  in  their  natural  state,  they 
are  in  a  perfect  equilibrium  or  a  balance,  exerting 
neither  an  attractive  nor  a  repulsive  influence. 

In  opposition  to  two  electrical  fluids,  whose  exist- 
ence was  maintained  by  Du  Fay,  Symmer,  Coulomb, 
Turner,  and  Thompson,  which  theory  I  consider  un- 
philosophical,  I  will  here  quote  the  opinions  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  the  celebrated  electrician  of  our  own  coun- 
try, who  took  strong  and  decided  ground  against  this 
doctrine. 

For  it,  he  substituted  the  more  simple  theory  of  one 
fluid,  and  attempted  to  account  for  all  the  various 
phenomena  of  attraction  and  repulsion  by  the  differ- 
ent states,  or  degrees,  or  volumes  of  electricity,  which 
he  called  plus  or  positive  arid  minus  or  negative. 
When  a  body  had  more  than  its  natural  share,  it  was 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  139 

considered  to  be  in  a  plus  or  positive  state,  and  when 
it  had  less  than  its  natural  share,  it  was  considered 
minus  or  negative.  Bodies,  upon  this  principal,  are 
positive  and  negative  relatively,  or  positive  and  nega- 
tive absolutely.  They  are  positive  and  negative  re- 
latively, when  they  are  both  plus,  but  when  one  has  a 
greater  amount  than  the  other.  They  are  positive 
and  negative  absolutely,  when  one  has  more  than  its 
natural  share  and  the  other  less.  But  in  each  of  those 
cases  there  is  attraction,  though  much  more  feeble  in 
the  former  than  in  the  latter  case.  Franklin,  how- 
ever, found,  after  mature  reflection  upon  the  subject, 
that  his  theory  was  attended  with  one  inexplicable 
difficulty.  His  penetrating  mind  could  not  solve  it 
satisfactorily  to  himself.  This  difficulty  was  the  re- 
pulsion of  two  negatives,  which  he  confessed  could 
not  be  explained  upon  the  plus  and  minus  theory,  for, 
in  this  case,  both  would  be  minus,  and  there  of  course 
be  an  absence  of  what  he  considered  to  be  the  at- 
tractive and  repulsive  principle. 

Epinus,  however,  a  celebrated  electrician  of  St. 
Petersburg  in  Russia,  undertook  to  extricate  the  theo- 
ry of  Franklin  from  this  dilemma.  He  maintained, 
with  Franklin,  that  there  is  but  one  fluid,  and  ac- 
counted for  all  the  phenomena  of  attraction  and  re- 
pulsion, including  the  repulsion  of  two  negatives,  upon 
he  hypothesis  that  there  must  be  a  reciprocal  affinity 
or  attraction  between  ponderable  and  imponderable 
matter,  and  that  the  particles  of  each  must  be  mutu- 
ally repellant  to  those  of  their  own  kind,  and  mutual- 


140  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY, 

ly  attractive  to  their  opposites,  and  that  this  attraction 
and  repulsion  exerts  itself  in  the  ratio  of  inverse  pro- 
portions according  to  the  squares  of  the  distance. 
This  it  will  be  seen,  lays  the  basis  for  three  distinct 
propositions. 

1st.  The  particles  or  ultimate  atoms  of  ponderable 
matter  naturally  repel  each  other. 

2d.  The  particles  or  component  parts  of  imponder- 
able matter  or  electricity  mutually  repel  each  other. 

3d.  The  particles  or  component  parts  of  both  pon- 
derable and  imponderable  matter  mutually  attract  their 
opposites,  and  that  too  with  a  force,  which  not  only 
varies  according  to  the  squares  of  the  distance,  but, 
also,  according  to  the  magnitude  and  density  of  the- 
one,  and  the  volume  or  degree  of  the  other. 

Now  from  this  explanation  of  the  difficulty,  which 
Franklin  encountered,  I  dissent  altogether.  It  de- 
stroys virtually  that  "  vis-inertia  "  or  inaction,  which 
is  an  essential  property  of  ponderable  matter,  and 
gives  to  it  attributes,  which  it  never  possessed.  That 
difficulty  can  be  explained  in  a  manner  more  strictly 
in  accordance  with  fact,  for  the  theory  of  one  electric 
agent,  as  maintained  by  Franklin,  is  correct,  his  doc- 
trine of  plus  and  minus  is  also  correct,  but  there  are 
certain  invariable  results.,  which  depend  upon  the  plus 
and  minus  of  bodies,  which  will  fully  explain  the  diffi- 
culty, which  he  encountered.  We  must  look,  not  to 
the  simple  volume  or  degree,  or  amount  of  accumu- 
lation itself — not  to  the  simple  plus  and  minus,  but  to 
the  organic  laws  of  the  ultimate  component  particles 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  141 

of  electricity,  for  the  solution  of  the  enigma,  which  so 
puzzled  Franklin,  which  laws,  however,  invariably  ex- 
hibit their  operations  through  the  medium  of  a  plus 
and  minus  in  bodies. 

After  a  careful  investigation  of  this  subject,  I  am 
satisfied,  that  the  difficulty  can  be  perfectly  solved. 
That  solution  is  derived  from  a  law  of  electrici- 
ty, which,  although  it  seems  to  have  escaped  the 
attention  of  chemists,  can  nevertheless,  be  demon- 
strated to  exist,  as  easily  and  as  perfectly,  as  any 
problem  in  Euclid,  can  be  demonstrated.  It  is  this. 
Every  ultimate  particle  of  electricity  has  opposite  po- 
larities— that  is,  each  end  of  each  individual  particle 
has  a  different  property — like  ends  or  polarities  repel, 
and  unlike  ends  or  polarities  attract.  This  I  intend 
to  prove  conclusively,  by  the  aid  of  that  immutable 
truth,  that  the  laws  of  the  whole,  are,  the  laws  of  its 
parts,  and  by  the  operation  of  the  rule,  so  proven,  I 
intend  to  show  that  all  the  phenomena  of  attraction 
and  repulsion  among  both  atoms  and  planets,  can  be 
rationally  accounted  for.  Let  us  apply  the  immuta- 
ble and  infallible  rule,  that  the  laws  of  the  whole  are 
the  laws  of  its  parts,  and  see  whether  it  will  sustain 
the  opinion  we  have  hazarded,  and  for  which  we  de- 
rive no  support  from  the  books. 

Electricity  and  galvanism  are,  at  the  present  day, 
generally  conceded  to  be  the  same  agent.  There  is 
no  dispute  about  that.  Now,  if  you  pass  a  current  of 
galvanism  around  soft  iron,  bent  into  the  form  of  a 
horse-shoe,  and  wound  spirally,  with  insulated  copper 


142  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

wire,  you  make  the  iron  magnetic,  and  the  two  ends 
have  different  polarities.  By  different  polarities.  I 
mean,  that,  what  one  end  will  attract  the  other  will 
repel,  or  the  one  is  negative  and  the  other  is  positive. 
But  by  changing  the  poles  of  the  battery  and  passing 
the  current  of  electricity  in  a  different  direction  around 
the  spiral  wire,  you  change  the  polarity  of  the  iron, 
and  make  the  end  that  was  positive,  negative,  and  the 
end  that  was  negative,  positive,  which  can  be  shown, 
by  experiments  in  electro-magnetism.  So  then,  posi- 
tive and  negative,  in  this  case,  depend  upon  the  di- 
rection in  which  the  current  runs,  for  the  current  runs 
inward  at  one  end  and  outward  at  the  other.  The 
end  where  the  current  is  inward  is  always  negative, 
and  that,  where  it  is  outward  is  always  positive. — 
And  why  is  this  invariably  so.  There  must  be  a  rea- 
son for  this  phenomenon.  Its  solution  is  readily  found 
in  the  admirable  rule,  that  the  laws  of  the  whole  are 
the  laws  of  its  parts.  If  a  current  of  electricity, 
running  in  a  certain  direction,  makes  one  end  of  a 
bar  of  iron  positive,  and  the  other  negative,  each  in- 
dividual ultimate  particle  of  that  current  must  have 
an  agency  in  producing  such  a  result,  and,  therefore, 
each  individual  particle  must  have  a  positive  and  neg- 
ative end;  the  positive  end  always  leading,  and  the 
negative,  of  course,  always  following.  We  infer  this 
from  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  the  whole,  are  the  laws 
of  its  parts,  or  the  laws  of  its  parts  are  the  laws  of 
the  whole ;  for  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  that  the 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF    ELECTRICITY.  143 

whole  of  a  thing  should  have  a  quality  the  opposite 
of  the  parts  of  which  it  is  composed. 

To  make  our  position  still  more  impregnable  by 
fact,  and  argument,  let  us  examine  further.  If  you 
pass  the  galvanic  current  around  steel  spirally,  in  the 
same  way  as  it  passed  around  soft  iron,  you  make  it 
permanently  magnetic,  the  end,  where  the  current  is 
inward  is  negative,  but  the  end  where  it  is  outward 
is  positive.  So  it  will  remain  for  years.  Now  you 
may  cut  up  that  bar  of  steel,  which  is  thus  made  mag- 
netic, into  ten  thousand  pieces  and  each  piece  will 
have  a  positive  and  negative  end,  aud  the  positive 
and  negative  polarities  of  the  pieces  will  be  arranged 
in  the  same  direction  as  the  whole.  What,  then,  is 
the  unavoidable  and  logical  inference  ?  Why,  that 
each  ultimate  particle  of  the  electricity,  that  made  it 
magnetic  and  kept  it  magnetic,  has  opposite  polar- 
ities, as  well  as  the  whole  current ; — because  the  po- 
larities of  the  whole  are,  most  assuredly,  made  up  of 
the  properties  of  its  parts.  A  mere  thimble  full  of 
the  atmosphere,  for  instance,  contains  ite  relative  pro- 
portions of  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  as  well  as  the  whole 
mass.  A  drop  of  water  contains  its  relative  propor- 
tions of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  as  well  as  the  ocean, 
and  so  with  every  thing  else.  Further  confirmation 
if  confirmation  it  needs,  will  be  given  to  this  opinion, 
when  we  come  to  the  subject  of  polarized  light. 

Having  by  fact,  and  by  argument,  attempted  to 
prove  that  each  end  of  the  ultimate  particles  of  elec- 
tricity has  opposite  polarities,  that  the  positive  end  is 


144  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

always  presented  in  the  outward  current,  and  the  neg- 
ative end,  of  course,  in  the  inward  current,  we  will 
now  apply  this  theory  to  the  explanation  of  phenom- 
ena of  attraction  and  repulsion.  But  first,  to  show 
that  the  facts  are  true,  which  we  have  stated,  we  can 
prove  them  by  an  experiment  with  two  magnets. 

If,  for  illustration,  two  steel  magnets,  with  like 
powers,  be  Dipped  into  iron  fillings,  until  they  have 
accumulated  as  large  an  amount  as  they  can  retain 
upon  their  poles,  and  the  opposite  poles  of  each  be 
then  presented  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other, 
the  filings  will  spin  out,  and  fill  up  the  space  between 
them,  and  exhibit  an  oily,  ropy  appearance.  But,  if 
like  poles  be  presented,  the  filings  will  be  blown  back, 
as  it  were,  and  stand  out  like  hair  around  the  points 
of  the  magnet.  This  shows  that  there  is  attraction  in 
the  one  case,  and  repulsion  in  the  other. 

Now  then,  for  an  explanation  of  the  attractions  and 
repulsions  of  electricity  by  this  theory.  A  body  which 
is  charged  plus  or  positive,  has  an  emanation  or  an 
outward  curre'nt.  Such  a  body  will  attract  a  body 
charged  minus  or  negative.  And  why  ?  Because,  as 
we  have  shown  by  the  magnets,  the  outward  current 
of  the  body  charged  plus  present  its  positive  end. — 
But  a  body  in  a  minus  state  has  an  inward  current  of 
electricity,  which  it  attracts  from  contiguous  substan- 
ces. Of  course  the  negative  end  of  the  ultimate  par- 
ticles of  this  inward  current  is  presented.  And  what 
is  the  consequence  ?  Why  two  bodies,  the  one  hav- 
ing an  outward,  and  the  other  an  inward  current,  pre- 


ORGANIC     LAWS     OF    ELECTRICITY.  145 

sent  opposite  polarities  to  each  other,  and  are  attract- 
ed from  the  operation  of  the  immutable  law,  that  op- 
p6site  polarities  attract. 

We  now  come  to  the  solution  of  that  difficulty, 
which  perplexed  Dr.  Franklin  so  much — the  repulsion 
of  two  negatives.  Before  the  application  of  this  rule 
the  difficulty  vanishes  at  once.  When  two  bodies  are 
minus  or  have  less  than  their  natural  share,  the  cur- 
rent of  electricity  is  inward  into  both.  Now  if,  while 
the  two  currents  are  inward,  the  bodies  in  a  minus 
state  be  brought  near  each  other,  they  are  repelled, 
because  both  currents  being  inward,  the  negative  ends 
of  the  ultimate  particles  of  each  current  are  present- 
ed to  each  other,  and  they  are  repelled  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  like  polarities  repel  each  other.  Thus  is  all 
attraction  and  repulsion  among  material  bodies,  and  of 
course,  all  motion  produced  by  the  agency  of  elec- 
tricity alone,  without  the  intervention  or  co-operation 
of  inert  matter.  So  that  the  difficulty,  which  Dr. 
Franklin  encountered  in  his  theory  of  plus  and  minus, 
is  obviated  without  the  aid  of  the  unphilosophical  as- 
sumption of  Epinus  and  Cavendish,  that  matter  has 
the  property  of  repelling  its  own  particles. 

There  is  an  experiment  which  will  develope  anoth- 
er very  extraordinary  and  mysterious  fact,  respecting 
one  of  the  inherent  constituent  properties  of  electri- 
^ity,  which  we  shall  thoroughly  investigate  in  this  con- 
nection, and  see,  if  it  does  not  throw  a  flood  of  new 
light  upon  the  phenomena  of  disease,  the  best  meth- 
ods of  medical  treatment  in  certain  cases,  and  the 


146  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

hidden  organic  causes  and  laws  of  chemical  changes 
—  of  decompositions  and  recompositions.  The  fact 
to  which  I  shall  allude,  is  this : 

If  a  person  shall  touch  the  negative  end  of  the  vol- 
taic pile  with  a  moistened  finger,  and  bring  a  platinum 
or  gold  wire  from  the  positive  end  in  contact  with  the 
tongue,  a  stfong  acid  taste  will  be  perceptible  in  the 
mouth  of  the  experimenter.  But  if  the  wire  from 
the  negative  end  be  brought  in  contact  with  the  tongue, 
while  the  moistened  finger  be  placed  in  contact  with 
the  positive  pole,  there  will,  on  the  contrary,  be  pro- 
duced in  the  mouth  a  strong  burning  or  alkaline  taste. 
Now  why  is  this  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  might 
well  of  itself  fill  a  volume,  for  it  is  a  key  to  unlock 
the  rich  casket  of  a  thousand  mysteries.  It  cannot, 
therefore,  be  expected  that  I  should  do  more  than 
merely  glance  at  the  solution  of  this  wonderful  phe- 
nomenon in  the  space  allotted  for  the  completion  of  this 
lecture,  and  if,  in  my  anxiety  to  do  as  much  justice 
to  the  subject  as  can  be  done  in  a  single  lecture,  I 
should  extend  my  remarks  somewhat  beyond  the  or- 
dinary bounds  of  one,  I  hope  that  my  reader  will  not 
be  offended  with  this  burdensome  tax  upon  his  pa- 
tience. 

To  proceed,  then,  why  will  the  positive  pole,  when 
brought  in  contact  with  the  tongue,  produce  an  acid 
taste,  and  the  negative  pole  an  alkaline  taste  ?  \^e 
shall  assume,  in  the  first  place,  as  the  basis  or  data  of 
our  reasonings  and  deductions  upon  the  subject,  that 
it  must  be  something  inherent  in  the  galvanic  current 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  147 

itself,  or  in  some  chemical  change  produced  in  the 
system  by  the  course  of  the  passing  current,  or  in  both 
combined.  We  believe  it  to  be  in  both  combined. 

In  our  investigations  of  common  electricity,  it  will 
be  recollected  that  we  established,  upon  the  basis  of 
a  self  evident  proposition  or  axiom,  that  one  end  of 
its  ultimate  particles  is  opposite  entirely  in  its  nature 
to  the  other  end,  since  one  end  of  a  current  is  attractive 
and  the  other  repulsive,  and,  as  the  laws  of  a  whole 
are  the  laws  of  its  parts,  then,  of  course,  each  atom 
of  that  whole  has  an  attractive  and  a  repulsive  power, 
by  the  opposite  polarity  of  its  opposite  sides.  Now 
then,  if,  as  is  demonstrated  in  the  experiment  just  re- 
ferred to,  the  whole  current  has  a  taste,  just  in  accord- 
ance with  the  direction  in  which  it  runs  across  the 
tongue,  each  ultimate  particle,  which  aids  in  constitu- 
ting that  current  and  its  organic  laws,  has,  also,  a  taste 
in  accordance  with  the  direction  in  which  it  runs,  as 
can  be  proven  by  the  same  process. of  reasoning. 

It  is  demonstrated,  then,  by  experiment  and  by  de- 
duction built  upon  self  evident  propositions,  that  each 
of  the  two  ends  of  the  ultimate  particles  of  electri- 
city have  opposite  tastes  —  the  one  an  alkaline  and 
the  other  an  acid  taste. 

Now  how  admirably  this  fact  exhibits  the  uniform- 
ity of  nature's  laws  !  How  lucidly  it  proves  that  there 
is  no  clashing  at  'all  in  the  principles  of  her  govern- 
ment. What  a  firm  and  immoveable  basis  it  lays  for 
confidence,  that,  when  we  have  ascertained,  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  one  isolated  fact,  proving 


148  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

the  existence  of  a  certain  definite  law,  other  facts, 
when  discovered,  will  harmonize  with  the  evidence 
of  the  first  fact,  if  they  relate  to  the  same  subject  or 
class  of  subjects,  and  will  increase  the  weight  of  proof 
as  to  the,exisitence  of  such  a  law,  thus  chaining  the 
uniform  testimony  of  isolated  facts  together  into  an 
harmonious  and  irresistible  convincing  sum  total  of 
proof,  and  thus  giving  a  satisfactory  and  almost  math- 
ematical certainty  to  our  knowledge ! 

What  is  the  corroborating  testimony  of  facts  in  the 
case  under  consideration  ?  It  is  this.  We  have 
already  demonstrated,  by  a  series  of  deductions, 
based  upon  experiments,  that  the  two  ends  of  every 
ultimate  particle  of  electricity  have  opposite  polari- 
ties—  that,  when  a  body  is  charged  plus,  there  is  an 
emanation  —  that,  in  every  emanation  or  outward  cur- 
rent, the  ultimate  particles  of  the  agent,  that  consti- 
tutes it,  present  their  positive  end,  as  that  always  leads 
—  that  a  minus  body  has  an  inhalation  of  the  elec- 
tric breeze,  as  it  were,  or  an  inward  current,  from  sur- 
rounding substances,  and  is  negative,  because  the  rear 
end  of  each  particle,  or  that  which  always  follows  the 
lead  of  the  positive  in  all  the  movements  of  electrici- 
ty, is,  in  its  organic  constitution,  negative. 

Now  then  for  a  forcible  illustration  of  the  admira- 
ble uniformity  of  those  facts,  which  demonstrate  na- 
ture's laws.  When  a  current  of  electricity  runs  in 
at  the  tongue,  it  leaves  an  acid  taste,  and  when  out  of 
the  tongue,  an  alkaline  taste.  Now  this  inward  cur- 
rent, as  we  have  before  frequently  remarked,  presents 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  149 

its  negative  end  and  the  outward  its  positive  end. — 
In  the  inward  current,  the  negative  end  of  each  par- 
ticle as  it  passes  in?  gives  inherent  organic  taste,  and 
so  with  the  other.  Now,  in  what  electrical  states  are 
the  alkalies  and  the  acids  ?  Why  exactly  in  opposite 
states.  The  acids  are  negative  and  the  alkalies  are 
positive.  The  inward  current  has  a  negative  polarity } 
and  is  also  acid,  and  the  outward  has  a  positive  po- 
lajity  and  is  alkaline.  The  positive  and  negative, 
then,  in  both  cases  —  yea  in  the  whole  three  cases 
agree  perfectly,  both  as  to  taste  and  polarity  —  the 
taste  of  the  negative  end  of  a  current  being  acid, 
which  acid  in  the  form  of  salts  is  also  negative,  and 
the  taste  of  the  positive  end  of  a  current  being  alkaline, 
which  alkaline,  in  the  form  of  salts,  is  also  positive. 
The  strong  chemical  affinity  which  exists  between  the 
alkalies  and  the  acids  is  familiar  to  all.  Tartaric  ac- 
id and  soda,  for  instance,  when  brought  in  contact 
with  each  other  in  solution,  are  attracted  to  each  oth- 
er, a  powerful  effervescence  ensues,  and  a*  chemical 
union  is  formed  between  the  two.  Now  this  attrac- 
tion must  be  entirely  owing  to  the  attraction  of  pos- 
itive and  negative  electricity,  or  of  opposite  polarities, 
since  the  one  is  plus  and  the  other  minus,  and  since 
a  foundation  seems  to  be  laid  for  an  alkali  and  an  acid 
in  the  organic  constitution  of  the  ultimate  particles  of 
electricity  itself. 

There  is  one  more  important  fact  illustrative  of  the 
wonderful  effects  of  electricity  upon  the  animal  sys- 
tem, which  I  will  introduce  here,  and  then  close  the 
lecture. 


150  ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY. 

Dr.  Ure.  of  Glasgow,  performed,  some  time  since, 
upon  the  body  of  a  murderer,  who  had  been  hung, 
several  experiments,  with  a  battery  consisting  of 
two  hundred  pairs  of  4  inch  plates. 

1st.  One  pole  of  this  battery  was  introduced 
into  an  incision  in  the  nape  of  the  neck,  so  as  to 
come  in  contact  with  the  spinal  marrow,  while  the 
other  was  applied  to  what  is  called  the  sciatic  nerve. 
The  consequence  was  that  every  muscle  of  the  body 
was  agitated  with  a  convulsive  quiver,  as  if  violently 
shuddering  from  the  effect  of  cold. 

2d.  By  continuing  one  pole  in  the  nape  of  the 
neck,  as  before,  and  removing  the  other  to  an  incision 
made  in  the  heel,  the  knee  being  previously  bent,  the 
leg  was  thrown  out  with  such  force  and  violence,  as 
nearly  to  kick  over  one  of  the  assistants,  who  endea- 
vored to  prevent  its  extension. 

3d.  One  pole  was  inserted  into  an  incision  made 
to  what  is  called  the  phrenic  nerve,  and  the  other 
between  the  ribs,  so  as  to  touch  the  diaphragm  at  the 
bottom  of  the  lungs.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
chest  rose  and  fell  as  in  heavy  natural  breathing. 

4th.  One  pole  was  brought  in  contact  with  the 
supra-orbital  nerve  in  the  forehead,  and  the  other  with 
the  heel,  when  every  muscle  of  the  countenance  was 
simultaneously  thrown  into  fearful  action.  Rage, 
horror,  despair,  and  ghastly  smiles  united  their  hide- 
ous expressions  in  the  murderer's  countenance.  So 
horrid  was  the  sight,  that  several  spectators  were 


ORGANIC    LAWS    OF     ELECTRICITY.  151 

forced  to  leave  the  room  in  which  the  experiments 
were  made,  either  from  terror  or  sickness,  and  one 
gentleman  fainted. 

5th.  One  pole  was  inserted  again  in  the  nape  of 
the  neck,  and  the  other  brought  in  contact  with  the 
ulnar  nerve  at  the  elbow.  Immediately  the  fingers 
moved  nimbly  like  those  of  a  violin  performer.  An 
assistant  tried  to  close  the  hand,  but  found  it  would 
open  forcibly  in  spite  of  his  efforts.  When  the  rod 
was  removed  from  the  elbow  to  a  slight  incision  in 
the  forefinger,  the  fist  being  previously  clenched,  that 
finger  instantly  extended,  and,  by  the  convulsive  agi- 
tation of  the  arm,  the  murderer  seemed  to  point  to 
the  different  spectators,  some  of  whom  thought  he 
had  come  to  life. 


LECTURE    VII. 

THE  SINGULAR  PROPERTIES  AND  ELECTRIC  QUALITIES  OF 
LIGHT  AND  HEAT  ILLUSTRATED  FROM  ARGUMENTS  DRAWN 
FROM  VARIOUS  SOURCES. 

As  much  was  said  during  the  discussion  upon  the 
origin  of  the  globe  about  the'  manner  in  which  the 
sun  was  created,  and  the  influence  of  its  light  upon 
our  globe  during  its  various  stages  of  organization,  it 
will  be  quite  appropriate  in  this  connection  to  consid- 
er somewhat  minutely  the  essential  properties  of  the 
substance  of  the  sun  and  the  element  of  light.  By 
such  an  examination  we  think  that  they  both  will  ap- 
pear very  different  from  the  qualities  with  which  they 
have  been  invested  by  certain  crude  notions  which 
have  been  entertained  respecting  them.  We  cannot 
better  give  our  views  upon  this  subject  than  by  quo- 
ting from  our  own  work  published  in  1843,  entitled 
"A  New  Philosophy  of  Matter." 

The  sun  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  fountain,  from 
which  continually  flows  all  natural  light,  for,  it  will 
appear  conclusively  in  the  course  of  our  observations, 
that  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  j^Tproduce  fire 
were  it  not  for  the  existence  of  thi^  agent.  And  he^ 
an  interesting  question  respecting  its  nat»;,7e  and  es- 
sential properties  forcibly  suggests  itself  to  the  mind  : 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT     AND    HEAT.  153 

What  is  light?  It  seems  to  be  a  subtle,  ethereal,  all 
pervading  fluid.  No  sooner  does  it  glance  upon  a 
substance  than  it  is  gone.  Suddenly  darken  a  room 
into  which  a  strong  flood  of  light  is  pouring,  and  it  is 
all  dissipated  as  instantaneously  as  thought.  Not  a 
solitary  ray  is  left  to  illuminate  the  darkness.  Blow 
out  a -candle,  whose  light  can  be  seen  by  the  eye,  at 
any  point  for  a  mile  in  every  direction  around  it,  and 
which,  therefore,  completely  fills  several  cubic  miles 
of  space,  and  not  the  minutest  iota  of  time  does  that 
light  continue,  after  the  candle  is  extinguished.  A 
thunder  bolt  blazes  across  the  black  canopy  of  a  mid- 
night of  storm,  and  its  scathing  light  fills  perhaps  a 
thousand  cubic  miles  of  space.  Blinded  by  the  in- 
tense and  lurid  glare,  the  eye  of  the  beholder  shuts 
for  an  instant,  and  opens — upon  what  ? — A  darkness 
deeper,  if  possible,  by  contrast,  than  before.  The 
lurid  flash  has  gone. — Where  ?  Is  it  annihilated  ?  No. 
It  is  somewhere  in  a  state  of  diffusion,  and  conse- 
quent invisibility,  and  if  collected  under  the  same 
circumstances,  it  would  exhibit  the  same  flash  as  be- 
fore, and  again  diffuse  itself  through  the  mass  of  sur- 
rounding substances.  Light,  then,  as  we  have  al- 
ready remarked,  is  subtle,  ethereal  and  all-pervading. 

It  is  imponderable  too — that  is,  it  can  be  neither 
weighed  nor  measured.  When  a  ponderable  sub- 
stance of  several  tons  bulk,  is  completely  saturated 
with  it,  the  specific  gravity  of  that  substance  is  not 
increased  the  smallest  perceptible  particle. 

Never,  for  an  instant,  is  this  subtle  agent  stationa- 
8 


154  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT. 

ry.  The  lightning  speed  of  its  everlasting  career  can 
be  compared  with  no  other  agent  in  nature  except 
Electricity.  It  glances  quick  as  thought  from  heaven 
to  earth — from  the  sun  to  the  planets. 

There  are  two  theories  respecting  the  substance  or 
essentiality  of  light,  both  of  which  will,  for  a  moment, 
be  examined.  Dr.  Herschel  and  his  coadjutors  sup- 
posed that  it  was  the  effect  of  the  undulation  or  vi- 
bration of  a  subtle,  etherial  medium  every  where'  pre- 
sent in  nature,  and  that  it  is  transmitted  to  the  eye 
the  same  as  sound  is  to  the  ear.  Upon  this  hypothe- 
sis there  would  be  no  direct  communication  between 
the  sun  and  the  earth,  or  the  other  attendant  planets, 
and  this  being  the  case,  the  generally  received  opin- 
ion among  philosophers,  that  the  movements  of  the 
planets  are  governed  by  a  certain  kind  of  influence 
exerted  by  the  sun  over  them,  would  be  erroneous ; 
for  we  hold  it  to  be  a  truth  capable  of  the  clearest 
and  most  logical  demonstration,  that  there  cannot  be 
any  influence  exerted  by  one  substance  over  another, 
without  a  direct  and  a  positive  connection,  of  some 
sort  between  those  two  substances.  To  suppose  the 
contrary,  would  be  to  suppose  that  there  is  a  connec- 
tion, and  that  there  is  not  a  connection  in  the  same 
breath,  .which  is  a  self-evident  contradiction  in  terms. 
We  hold  such  an  influence,  without  such  an  actual 
connection,  to  be  an  impossibility  in  the  nature  of 
things,  which,  to  speak  reverentially,  not  even  Omnip- 
otence can  overcome,  for  God  himself  never  claims 
to  do  that  which  is  an  impossibility  in  the  nature  of 


PROPERTIES    OP    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  155 

things.  But  it  may  be  said  that  the  Almighty  crea- 
ted the  universe  with  a  word,  and  that  there  is  no 
positive  connection  between  a  mere  word  and  such  a 
stupendous  effect.  True,  but  if  he  created  that  uni- 
verse with  a  word,  his  all  pervading  Omnipotence 
was  present  to  give  that  word  efficiency  ;  for  to  sup- 
pose the  contrary,  would  be  to  suppose  that  God  can 
withdraw  himself  from  a  positive  connection  with  hig 
own  agencies,  which  is  another  self-evident  contradic- 
tion, unless  you  can  undeify  the  Deity  and  make  in- 
finity finite. 

Besides,  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Herschel,  upon  this 
subject  are  unphilosophical  and  contrary  to  known 
facts.  Instead  of  undulating  or  vibrating,  light  moves 
in  direct  lines.  This  is  capable  of  positive  proof. 
The  angle  of  incidence  arid  that  of  reflection  are  the 
same.  Let  a  stream  of  light  fall  upon  a  mirror  at  a 
particular  angle,  and  it  will  bo  reflected  from  that 
mirror  in  an  exactly  opposite  angle. — It  is  a  tested 
and  acknowledged  fact,  also,  that  light  will  not  pass 
through  a  bent  tube.  But  if  it  moved  in  undulations 
or  vibrations  like  sound,  this  would  not  be  the  case, 
for  sound  will  pass  through  such  a  tube.  These  facts 
and  arguments,  therefore,  prove  that  the  hypothesis 
of  Dr.  Herschel,  respecting  light,  is  false  and  unphil- 
osophical. 

The  other  theory,  of  which  we  spoke,  is  that  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton.  It  was  the  opinion  of  that  great  phi- 
losopher, that  solar  light  is  an  infinitesimal  effluvia  of 
matter  or  an  emanation  of  inconceivably  minute  par- 


156  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT  AND    HEAT. 

tides  flying  off  from  the  body  of  the  sun,  and  dart- 
ing i»i  straight  lines  through  that  space  which  is  occu- 
pied by  those  opaque  bodies  which  are  governed  by 
its  influence.  This  hypothesis  we  consider  to  be  cor- 
rect and  philosophical,  if  we  regard  it  as  an  emana- 
tion of  matter,  different  in  its  nature  and  essential 
properties  from  ponderable,  inert  matter — if  we  re- 
gard it  as  an  imponderable  essence,  as  it  doubtless  is, 
governed  by  the  very  same  laws,  and  exerting  precise- 
ly the  same  agencies  as  the  other  imponderable  prin- 
ciples. Newton,  however,  left  some  things  unexplain- 
ed in  his  theory  of  solar  emanation,  which,  unless 
satisfactorily  accounted  for,  would  involve  the  sub- 
ject in  an  inexplicable  difficulty.  Although  he  main- 
tained the  opinion  that  light  was  constituted  by  a 
flight  of  particles  from  the  sun,  and  thus  far  was 
doubtless  correct,  yet  he  neglected  or  failed  to  ac- 
count for  the  supply  of  that  waste  of  the  substance 
of  the  sun,  which  must  unavoidably  be  the  conse- 
quence. The  objector  to  his  theory,  who  might  wish 
to  puzzle  the  philosopher,  might  put  the  question, 
"  if  light  be  an  emanation  of  infinitesimal  atoms  or 
particles  of  matter  from  the  orb  of  day,  why  is  it  not 
diminished — why  not  exhausted  and  blotted  out?" 
And  such  a  question  too  would  be  a  very  natural  one, 
and  deserving  of  attentive  consideration.  Light  is 
constantly  emanating  from  the  sun.  This  is  a  known 
and  a  generally  acknowledged  fact  in  science.  Eve- 
ry conceivable  point  of  space  for  ninety-five  millions 
of  miles  around  that  luminary  to  the  orbit,  of  our 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      157 

earth,  and  so  around  the  whole  circumference  of  that 
orbit  is  constantly  filled  with  this  light ;  and  as  light 
is  estimated  to  move  from  the  sun  to  the  earth  in 
eight  minutes,  then  this  whole  entire  ocean  of  light, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  miles  in  diame- 
ter and  nearly  five  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  miles 
in  circumference,  containing  billions  upon  billions  of 
cubic  miles  of  light  diffused  over  space,  is  displaced 
every  eight  minutes  by  a  new  emanation — a  fresh 
ocean  of  light,  and  that  by  the" flood-tides  of  another 
ocean,  and  that  by  another,  and  so  on  to  infinity. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  whole  space  between  us  and 
the  far  off  orb  of  Herschel  is  thus  constantly  filled 
with  light,  and  that  light  is  thus  constantly  displaced, 
by  wave  succeeding  wave  in  endless  succession. 

Now  the  idea  that  this  is  matter,  which  is  thus  pas- 
sing off  from  the  sun  with  the  glance  of  the  lightning 
flash,  and  filling  every  eight  minutes  an  almost  incon- 
ceivable area  of  space,  would  be  preposterous  in  the 
extreme,  unless  there  were,  by  some  process  of  na- 
ture, an  adequate  supply  for  such  an  immense  and 
unavoidable  waste.  This  conclusion  is  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  every  principle  of  philosophy,  analo- 
gy and  fact.  It  is  perfectly  evident  that  particles  fly- 
ing off  from  a  body  must  inevitably  diminish  that 
body.  No  matter  how  infinitesimally  minute  those 
particles,  nor  how  immensely  large  the  substance; 
this  must  be  the  case,  so  long  as  the  smallest  atom  of 
matter  conceivable  possesses  both  length,  breadth  and 
thickness. 


158  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT. 

It  can,  then,  be  mathematically  demonstrated,  as 
perfectly  as  any  problem  of  Euclid,  thaUhe  sun,  unsup- 
plied  from  some  source,  would,  long  since,  have  been 
frittered  away  by  infinitesimal  abstractions,  and  been 
utterly  annihilated  by  this  waste,  even  though  we 
should,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  adopt  the  supposi- 
tion, that  a  million  of  cubic  acres  of  those  particles, 
when  condensed  sufficiently,  should  weigh  no  more 
than  the  ten  thousandth  part  of  a  single  grain  ;  for, 
however  vast  in  magnitude  be  the  substance,  such  a 
diminution  as  must  take  place  by  an  emanation  of 
particles  so  immense  as  to  fill  a  cubic  bulk  of  space 
one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  miles  in  diame- 
ter, and  nearly  five  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  miles 
in  circumference,  every  eight  minutes,  must  certainly 
annihilate  that  substance  completely  in  process  of 
time.  As  "  a  continual  dropping  wears  away  the  sol- 
id rock,"  so  a  continual  waste  must  eventually  ex- 
haust— completely  and  utterly  exhaust  even  the  bulk- 
iest mass  conceivable. 

If  light  then,  be  the  emanation  of  infinitesimal  ef- 
fluvia from  the  sun,  as  it  doubtless  is,  how  shall  we 
rescue  the  Newtonian  theory  from  the  difficulties  in 
which  it  seems  to  be  involved  ?  We  must  suppose 
either  that  there  is,  somehow,  an  unseen  and  imper- 
ceptible return  of  those  particles,  to  the  source,  from 
whence  they  emanated,  or  that  that  great  fount  of 
light  is  constantly  fed  by  creative  agency  constantly 
exerted,  or  else,  as  the  horrid  alternative,  that  the- 
world  would  long  since  have  realized  the  terrific  phan- 
tasies of  Byron's  poetic  dream  on  darkness,  when — 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  159 

'The  bright  sun  was  extinguished,  and  the  stars 
'  Did  wander  darkling  in  the  eternal  space, 
'Raylees.and  pathless,  and  the  icy  earth 
,  Swung  blind  and  blackening  in  the  moonless  ar.1 

The  latter  alternative,  we  know,  however,  has  not 
taken  place,  and  the  position,  that  the  waste  is  sup- 
plied by  direct  creative  agency,  is  contrary  to  all  the 
analogies  of  divine  economy.  When  the  Almighty 
created  the  universe,  he  created,  also,  it  is  presumed, 
all  the  natural  laws  and  agencies  by  which  that  uni- 
verse should  be  governed,  until  the  present  order  of 
things  shall  be  broken  up  by  the  same  Omnipotent 
word  and  energy  which  established  it,  and, 

"  Final  ruin  fiercely  drive  her  ploughshare  o'er  creation." 

He  di'd  not  leave  his  work  half  done.  He  completed 
creation — he  pronounced  the  whole  good,  very  good, 
and  on  the  seventh  day  he  rested  from  his  labor.  It 
cannot  be  presumed  that  the  process  of  creating  new 
materials  to  supply  any  deficiency  in  this  splendid 
machinery  of  worlds  is  now  progressing.  The  sup- 
position would  be  derogatory  to  the  skill  of  the  great 
architect.  It  would  be  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  all 
his  doings.  Although  there  are  continual  changes 
going  forward  in  the  materials  of  which  this  globe 
and  its  surrounding  atmosphere  is  constructed — al- 
though there  be  a  ceaseless  progression  of  chemical 
decomposition  and*  recomposition  among  various  sub- 
stances— although  what  was  a  tree,  one  year,  may, 
'by  transformation,  become  glass  the  next — or  what 
was  grass  one  day  may  become  either  flesh  or  milk  or 


160  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT  AND    HEAT. 

cheese  or  butter  the  next — or  what  was  fish  in  one 
age  may  be  petrified  into  limestone  the  next,  and,  in- 
stead of  floating  in  the  water,  become  the  material 
with  which  your  parlors  are  plastered,  yet,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, that  not  a  single  new  particle  has  been  added 
to  the  globe  or  its  varied  furniture  since  creation, 
however  modified  it  may  have  been,  either  by  nature 
or  art.  One  might  imagine,  perhaps,  that,  in  the 
combustion  of  fuel,  there  is  some  destruction  of  ma- 
terial. But  such  is  not  the  fact.  It  has  only  under- 
gone a  change.  Every  particle  of  it  exists  some 
where  either  in  vapor  or  smoke  or  the  gasses  or  in 
ashes.  And  so  with  everything  else.  When  the 
streams  dry  up  in  the  seasons  of  drouth,  there  is 
not  a  drop  the  less  water  than  before.  It  is  either  in 
the  deep  well  springs  of  the  earth,  or  is  borne  about 
in  the  vapors  of  the  atmosphere,  nor  is  there  a  drop 
more  when  the  streams  are  full,  nor  was  there,  when 
the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened,  and  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  the  de- 
luge covered  fifteen  fathoms  deep,  the  tops  of  the 
highest  mountains.  It  was  either  spouted  up  from 
the  subterranean  reservoirs  of  earth,  or  the  surround- 
ing atmosphere,  which  extends  forty-five  miles  above 
the  globe,  gave  out  its  watery  treasures,  or  the  melt- 
ed icebergs  came  down  in  torrents  from  the  arctic 
and  antarctic  seas. 

From  these  analogies,  and  a  thousand  others  un- 
mentioned,  we  infer  that  no  creation  of  material  is 
progressing  to  supply  the  waste  of  the  sun.  Shall 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  161 

we  then  resort  to  the  other  hypothesis,  that  the  other- 
wise unavoidable  diminution  of  the  sun  is  supplied 
by  the  return,  through  some  channel,  of  those  same 
particles,  which  have  accomplished  the  object  of  their 
mission  ?  Let  us  see  what  testimony  analogy  furnish- 
es upon  this  important  subject,  before  we  hazard  an 
answer.  The  human  body  affords  a  good  illustration. 
The  heart  sends  out  the  vital  stream  by  successive 
pulsations,  through  its  purple  channels,  to  the  extrem- 
ities of  the  system,  and  is,  in  its  turn,  supplied  by  that 
same  blood,  which  is  sent  out  in  its  passage  back 
through  the  little  veins,  to  be  again  projected  by  the 
self  moved  action  of  the  wondrous  machine. 

The  waters  of  the  globe  afford  another  very  good 
illustration.  The  ocean  is,  as  it  were,  the  heart  of  the 
earth.  By  evaporation  it  supplies  the  clouds  with  wa- 
ter. This  is  borne  over  the  globe  and  discharged 
among  the  mountainous  regions,  to  supply  the  high 
lakes  and  fountains.  These  send  forth  the  little  rills 
and  streams,  which,  uniting  in  their  course,  form  rivers, 
which  empty  into  the  ocean  again  and  keep  that  im- 
mense reservoir  unexhausted.  Now,  what  the  heart 
is  to  the  human  body,  or  the  ocean  to  the  globe,  I 
conceive  the  sun  to  be  to  the  solar  system.  By  its 
mighty  pulsations,  it  sends  out  its  living  streams  to  vi- 
talize and  energize  creation,  and  when  one  pulsation 
has  done  its  work,  and  given  its  share  of  the  mant- 
ling blush  of  health  to  the  cheek  of  beauty,  and  of 
luxuriance  to  the  verdure  of  vegetation,  and  of  varied 
lints  to  the  flowers,  and  of  ripeness  to  the  mellow 
8* 


169  PROPERTIES    OP    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

fruits,  and  of  motion  to  the  planets,  it  speeds  on  its 
lightning  circuit,  and  gives  place  to  another  pulsation, 
and  thus  pulsation  afteT  pulsation  chase  each  other 
in  one  interminable  and  ceaseless  round,  supplying  by 
some  hitherto  inexplicable  method  of  return,  the  waste 
which  must  otherwise  accrue. 

We  have  considered  the  Newtonian  Theory  of  the 
materiality  of  light  as  correct,  though  not  matter  in 
the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  for  it  is  totally 
different  from  any  tangible,  appreciable  form  of  mat- 
ter with  which  we  are  acquainted  —  being  imponder- 
able, and  immeasurable,  passing  through  transparent 
mediums  without  seeming  to  encounter  any  obstacle 
—  entering  readily  into  the  eye,  the  tenderest  and 
most  delicate  organ,  without  causing  pain  or  being 
perceptible  in  its  passage.  The  following  appropriate 
extract  from  Ferguson's  Astronomy  will  forcibly  illus- 
trate the  extreme  subtlety  and  imponderability  of  this 
agent.  "  Light  consists  of  exceeding  small  particles 
of  matter  isusing  trom  a  luminous  body;  as  from  a  light- 
ed candle  such  particles  of  matter  constantly  flow  in 
all  directions.  Dr.  NIEWENTYT*  computes,  that  in 
one  second  of  time  there  flows  418,660,000,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  particles 
of  light  out  of  a  burning  candle  ;  which  number  con- 
tains at  least  6,337,243,000,000  times  the  number  of 
grains  of  sand  in  the  whole  Earth,  supposing  100 
grains  of  sand  to  be  equal,  in  length  to  an  inch,  and 
consequently,  every  cubic  inch  of  the  Earth  to  con- 
tain one  million  of  such  grains. 

*JReligiou3  Philosopher,  Vol.  III.  p.  C5. 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT.  163 

These  amazingly  small  particles,  by  striking  upon 
our  eyes,  excite  in  our  minds  the  idea  of  light ;  and, 
if  they  were  as  large  as  the  smallest  particles  of  mat- 
ter discernable  by  our  best  microscopes,  instead  of  be- 
ing serviceable  to  us,  they  would  soon  deprive  us  of 
sight  by  the  force  arising  from  their  immense  velocity, 
which  is  above  164  thousand  miles  every  second,  or 
1,230,000  times  swifter  than  the  motion  of  a  cannon- 
bullet.  And  therefore,  if  the  particles  of  light  were 
so  large,  that  a  million  of  them  were  equal  in  bulk  to 
an  ordinary  grain  of  sand,  we  durst  no  more  open  our 
eyes  to  the  light,  than  suffer  sand  to  be  shot  point 
blank  against  them." 

Now,  with  respect  to  extreme  subtlety,  does  not 
light  resemble  electricity.  Is  there  any  other  agent 
in  nature,  which  will  pass  thus  through  the  eye  with- 
out affecting  it  except  electricity,  for  that  will  thus 
pass.  Let  a  pointed  rod  be  connected  with  an  elec- 
tric machine,  and  a  stream  projected  through  the  eye 
from  that  point  will  cause  no  more  pain  than  light  — 
though  differently  modified.  And  if  light  be  electri- 
city, there  would  be  an  additional  argument  in  iavor 
of  the  supposition,  that  emanations  of  this  fluid  re- 
turn again  to  their  source,  the  sun,  as  all  electricity, 
however  modified,  moves  in  a  circuit,  and  exhibits  no 
effect  except  the  circuit  is  closed. 

This  is  doubtless  a  novel  idea,  and  may,  for  that 
reason  alone,  be  considered,  at  first  thought,  chimeri- 
cal and  baseless.  But  we  only  ask  calm  reflection  upon 
the  subject,  and  candid  attention  to  it,  for,  we  are 


164  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

persuaded,  that,  after  mature  consideration,  it  will  not 
appear  so  visionary,  as  may,  at  first  glance  be  suppo- 
sed. If  it  perform  a  circut,  it  must  be  so  immense,  as 
to  be  beyond  computation.  To  illustrate  this  subject, 
trace  a  single  ray,  for  instance,  in  its  passage  from  the 
sun,  out  into  space,  for  millions  upon  millions  of  miles, 
and  there  would  be  a  point  in  its  outward  passage, 
and  its  consequent  continual  divergence,  that  the  ulti- 
mate particles,  which  constituted  that  ray,  must  of 
necessity  begin  to  separate  from  each  other.  Now, 
when  they  come  to  that  point  of  incipient  separation, 
what  becomes  of  them  ?  If  they  make  a  complete 
circuit,  as  we  believe  they  do,  the  ultimate  particles, 
which  composed  the  ray,  would,  when  they  began  to 
separate,  (if  they  have  the  same  organic  laws  as  elec- 
tricity, which  we  shall  prove,)  present  their  negative 
or  minus  polarity  toward  the  sun,  and,  in  that  sepa- 
rated state,  they  would  be  drawn  back  to  their  source 
by  the  simple  laws  of  the  attraction  of  opposite  po- 
larities. 

But  it  may  be  affirmed  that,  as  light  moves  in 
straight  lines,  one  part  of  our  theory  clashes  with  an- 
other, since,  according  to  this  view  of  the  subject,  it 
must  move  in  curved  lines.  This  apparent  clashing, 
however,  is  very  easily  explained,  and  this  objection 
obviated.  So  inconceivably  immense  is  that  orbit, 
which  is  described  by  a  ray,  that,  although  it  is  actu- 
ally circular,  yet  any  perceptible  part  of  the  orbit, 
which  it  describes,  would  appear  to  be  straight  to  us, 
and  thus  there  be  no  clashing  between  the  two  posi- 
tions in  reality. 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  165 

It  would  be  very  easy,  we  are  aware  for  a  fruitful 
imagination  to  invent  objections,  but  before  our  con- 
clusions be  confidently  and  positively  denied,  we 
would  ask  those,  who  would  invent  such  objections, 
to  tell  us  what  becomes  of  light,  if  it  does  not  thus 
move  in  a  circuit  and  thus  return  to  its  source.  Is  it 
annihilated,  or  does  it  become  stagnated  and  dormant 
and  lose  its  inherent  activity  in  the  vast  abyss  of  space  ? 
And  if  it  move  not  thus,  and  return,  we  would  ask 
those,  who  invent  such  objections,  if  they  are  pre- 
pared, in  any  other  plausible  or  rational  way,  to  ac- 
count for  the  otherwise  unavoidable  waste  of  the  ma- 
terial of  the  sun.  If  they  can,  we  will  willingly  be- 
come learners,  and  will  pledge  ourselves  to  give  up  all 
prepossessions  in  favor  of  any  opinion  which  we  may 
have  harbored.  But  if  they  cannot,  they  are  bound, 
we  think,  to  consider  well  the  propriety  of  making 
objections  upon  a  subject,  when  they  know  not  posi- 
tively whether  their  objections  are  well  founded. 
Firmly  believing,  however,  that  they  cannot,  we  shall, 
for  the  present,  at  least,  adhere  to  the  conclusions  to 
which  we  have  already  come. 

Light  then  doubtless,  after  having  performed  its  of- 
fice returns  to  its  fountain  and  thus  closes  its  circuit. 
Else,  what,  I  ask,  becomes  of  it  ?  Has  the  earth, 
for  instance  drank  in  and  retained  all  the  light  which 
has  been  shed  upon  it  by  the  sun  since  creation  ?  If 
it  had  we  conceive  it  to  be  a  proposition  capable  of 
the  clearest  demonstration,  that  it  would  have  been, 
by  this  time,  a  complete  ball  of  light  like  the  sun. 


166      PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

Besides  had  it  retained  all  the  rays  which  have  fallen 
upon  it  since  the  morning  of  time,  its  bulk  ere  this, 
would  have  been  very  sensibly  increased  ;  for,  al- 
though light  be  imponderable,  yet  it  is  something,  and 
is  capable  of  accumulation,  like  other  matter,  if  re- 
tained. Not  only  would  the  earth  be  increased  by 
this  accumulation,  but  every  planet  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem, and  the  sun,  as  every  one  must  see,  would  be 
proportionably  diminished.  And  what  would  be  the 
consequence  of  such  a  diminution  of  the  one,  and 
increase  of  the  others  ?  Why,  the  perfect  balance  of 
the  system,  which  produces  such  a  wonderful  regu- 
larity of  revolution,  that  eclipses  can  be  foretold,  for 
years  before  their  occurrence,  to  the  definiteness  of  a 
single  moment,  would  be  entirely  destroyed,  and  the 
whole  would  rush  headlong  to  the  confusion  and  dark- 
ness of  chaos.  Neither  the  earth,  therefore,  nor  the 
other  bodies  of  the  solar"  system  have  retained  the 
light,  which  has  fallen  upon  them,  but  having  been 
as  completely  saturated,  the  first  twenty-four  hours  of 
their  existence  as  ever,  they  have  thrown  off  all  super- 
abundance, the  same  as  substances  do,  when  sur- 
charged with  electricity. 

We  have  dwelt  upon  this  subject  of  the  return  of 
particles  to  the  sun  with  the  more  minuteness,  be- 
cause, if  true,  it  may  account  satisfactorily  for  an  im- 
portant phenomenon,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  advert  hereafter. 

As  the  correctness  of  our  theory  depends  mainly 
upon  the  demonstration  of  the  proposition  that  light 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  167 

is  electricity,  we  will  proceed  in  the  examination  of 
proofs.  The  two  possess  many  properties  in  com- 
mon. Light,  generally  speaking,  is  attended  with 
heat — so  is  electricity.  Light  has  inconceivable  ra- 
pidity of  motion — so  has  electricity.  The  one  is  im- 
ponderable, immeasurable,  all-pervading — equally  so 
is  the  other.  And  what  if  they  do  vary  in  some  of 
their  appearances — vary  in  some  of  their  effects  and 
operations  ?  Does  that  circumstance  necessarily  de- 
stroy their  identity — their  oneness  in  principle  or  in 
essence  ?  Certainly  not.  Known  and  acknowledged 
electricities  thus  vary,  and  that  too,  quite  as  widely. ' 
The  spark  and  the  shock  of  the  electric  machine  are 
somewhat  different  from  the  galvanic  current.  The 
meteoric  shower  is  different  from  the  keen  flash  and 
fierce  energy  of  the  bursting  thunderbolt.  The  blaze 
of  the  thunderbolt  is  different  from  the  mysterious 
corruscations  of  the  Aurora  Forealis  and  Aurora  Aus- 
tral is,  and  these  again  are  all  different  from  magnet- 
ism or  magneto-electricity. — Even  the  very  same  gal- 
vanic current,  when  modified  by  machinery,  as  can  be 
demonstrated  with  a  piece  of  apparatus,  is  different 
under  one  set  of  circumstances,  from  what  it  is  under 
another.  If  a  person  take  hold  of  the  poles  of  a 
small  battery,  and  close  the  circuit,  he  receives  no 
shock.  But  pass  thai  same  current  around  a  helix  of 
copper  wire,  enclosing  soft  iron,  and  forming  what  is 
called  the  magneto-electric  machine,  and  then,  by  the 
action  of  the  machine,  a  person  receives  shocks  when- 
ever he  closes  the  circuit,  by  taking  hold  of  tin  tubes 


168  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

having  a  connection  by  conducting  wires  with  the 
positive  and  negative  poles  of  the  helix.  This  proves 
conclusively  that  dissimilarity  in  appearance  or  in  ac- 
tion destroy  not  identity  or  oneness  in  principle  or  in 
essence.  This  dissimilarity  depends  on  modification 
and  on  that  alone,  the  causes  of  which  are,  sometimes, 
apparent,  and  sometimes  latent.  The  want  then,  of 
resemblance  in  any  respect  between  light  and  electri- 
city, destroys  not  necessarily  their  identity.  And  even 
on  the  score  of  similarity,  they  are,  by  no  means,  ma- 
terially deficient.  There  are,  in  fact  more  points  of 
marked  resemblance  between  them,  than  between  ma- 
ny known  and  acknowledged  electricities — more,  for 
instance,  than  between  the  Aurora  Borealis  and  mag- 
netism. And  were  the  attention  of  philosophers  and 
chemists  turned  to  the  investigation  of  this  subject 
with  all  that  intensity  which  its  importance  demands, 
we  are  persuaded,  that  rhore  resemblances  still  would 
be  discovered.  Who  can  tell,  but  that,  if,  by  any 
means,  an  immense  number  of  rays  could  be  brought 
together  into  one  line  of  light,  as  they  are  brought  to 
a  focus  by  the  lens  or  burning  glass,  and  could  they 
be  continued  onward  in  that  line,  without  being  scat- 
tered— -who  can  tell,  we  say,  but  that  this  condensa- 
tion of  rays  might  be  one  continual  stream  of  fire, 
like  that  of  the  electric  fluid  ? 

But  a  truce  to  supposition.  We  need  not  resort 
to  hypotheses  or  conjectures  to  establish  the  plausibil- 
ity, or  even  the  logical  certainty  of  our  argument. 
We  appeal  to  incontrovertible  facts,  to  prove  that 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  169 

light  is  electricity.  These  facts  we  shall  glean  from 
the  observations  of  practical  men,  which  are  prefera- 
ble to  any  philosophical  surmises  or  speculations. 

Lieutenant  Johnson,  of  the  British  navy,  often  no- 
ticed that  a  considerable  variation  of  the  needle  of 
the  compass  was  produced  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  fal- 
ling upon  the  glass  which  covers  it. 

In  support  of  this  testimony,  I  have  that  of  Mr. 
Harris,  a  resident  of  Ravenna,  Portage  county,  Ohio, 
who  had  been  a  surveyor  more  than  twenty  years, 
and  who  had  often  been  engaged  in  running  lines. 
Tn  the  commencement  of  his  business,  he  was  often 
much  troubled  by  the  variation  of  the  needle,  and 
imputed  it,  at  first,  to  the  vicinity  of  iron  ore,  which 
is  the  popular  solution  generally  given  for  such  phe- 
nomena. But  he  noticed,  after  awhile,  that  the  varia- 
tions occurred  in  a  cloudless  day,  and  just  about  noon, 
when  the  sun  was  vertical.  The  idea  occurred  to 
him,  that  it  might  be  electricity,  produced  upon  the 
glass  cover  by  the  sun's  rays.  In  order  to  test  the 
correctness  of  that  idea,  when  such  variations  occur- 
red, he  moistened  the  glass  so  as  to  dissipate  the  elec- 
tricity, and  found  by  so  doing,  that  the  variation  was 
instantly  prevented. — Since  that,  he  affirms  that  he 
has  been  no  more  troubled  with  the  supposed  attrac- 
tion of  metalic  substances,  and  his  remedy  is  an  in- 
fallible preventive  of  the  variations  that  so  much 
troubled  him. 

Since  we  first  commenced  the  particular  investiga- 


170      PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

tion  of  this  subject,  in  1838,  we  have  had  frequent 
opportunities  to  consult  the  oldest  and  most  observing 
practical  surveyors,  and  they  have,  without  an  excep- 
tion, in  every  instance,  corroborated  the  statements 
of  Mr.  Harris,  arid  Lieutenant  Johnson.  One  whose 
name,  for  particular  considerations,  we  shall  omit,  but 
who  was  as  good  authority,  probably,  as  any  one  we 
have  consulted,  not  only  testified  his  firm  belief  in 
the  cause  assigned  by  Mr.  Harris,  but  suggested  the 
thought,  that  both  diurnal  and  annual  variations  of 
the  needle  might,  possibly,  be  determined  by  the  va- 
riations even  of  the  thermometer. 

But  some  may,  perhaps,  be  willing  to  acknowledge 
the  premises,  from  which  we  started,  but  deny  the 
validity  of  our  conclusions. — They  may  assent  to  the 
proposition,  that  electricity  causes  such  variations  of 
the  needle,  as  we  have  been  contemplating,  and  that 
electricity  may  be  produced  by  the  mere  friction  of 
the  sun's  rays  upon  the  glass  cover  of  the  compass, 
but,  that  it  cannot  be  the  sun-light  itself.  This, 
however,  would  be  an  assumption  altogether  unrea- 
sonable and  unphilosophical.  Even  if  produced  by 
the  friction  of  the  rays,  (which  cannot  be  the  case, 
since  light  passes  so  readily  through  a  transparent  me- 
dium, without  friction,)  either  the  light  or  the  glass 
must  give  out  the  electricity ;  for,  in  all  cases,  where 
electricity  is  developed  by  friction,  either  the  rubber 
or  substance  rubbed  produces  it.  The  one  substance, 
that  affects  the  other,  is,  uniformly,  the  substance  that 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  171 

is  the  generating  agent.  Even  if  light,  then,  pro- 
duces electricity  by  friction  upon  the  cover,  it,  after 
all,  develops  it  from  its  own  substance,  and  so,  no- 
thing is  gained  by  the  objector,  nor  are  our  conclu- 
sions at  all  impaired. 


LECTURE    VIII. 

THE  SINGULAR  PROPERTIES  AND  ELECTRIC  QUALITIES  of 
LIGHT  AND  HEAT  ILLUSTRATED  BY  ARGUMENTS  DERIVED 
FROM  VARIOUS  SOURCES. 

In  addition  to  the  facts,  which  were  introduced  into 
our  last  Lecture,  and  which  were  of  themselves  suf- 
ficient to  demonstrate  that  light  is  electricity,  it  has 
been  ascertained  by  the  celebrated  Mrs.  Somerville, 
of  England,  that  by  passing  the  sun's  rays  through  a 
prism,  and  separating  them,  by  analyzation,  into  the 
seven  primitive  colors,  the  blue  color  possesses  the  pow- 
er of  imparting  magnetism  or  polarity  to  the  needle, 
and  magnetism,  we  now  know,  to  be  electricity  by 
experiments  too  conclusive  to  be  controverted. 

There  is  another  very  important  fact  respecting  the 
organic  laws  of  the  constitution  of  both  light  and  elec- 
tricity, which  furnish  additional  and  weighty  testimo- 
ny in  favor  of  identity.  The  attractions  of  electricity 
decrease  in  exact  proportion  as  the  squares  of  the  dis- 
tance increase,  in  receding  from  an  electrified  body. 
This  is  precisely,  (as  we  should  suppose,)  the  law  of 
the  divergence  of  light,  and  this  law,  which  runs 
throughout  all  the  imponderables,  has  its  origin  in  the 
law  of  solar  emanation  or  divergence,  and  the  simple 
reason  why  the  attraction  of  all  bodies  decreases  in 
proportion  as  the  squares  of  the  distance  increase,  is 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  173 

because  the  emanating  influence  of  all  bodies,  which 
constitutes  attraction,  obeys  this  law. 

The  very  strongest  testimony,  However,  in  proof  of 
our  proposition,  is  contained  in  the  phenomena  of  the 
polarization  of  light,  by  which  it  is  demonstrated,  that 
every  particle  of  light,  as  well  as  of  electricity,  has 
opposite  polarities.  This  curious  subject  will  be  more 
fully  examined,  when  we  come  to  the  discussion  of  the 
subject  of  caloric. 

By  a  fair  logical  deduction,  then,  with  facts  amply 
to  sustain  it,  we  unhesitatingly  infer  that  light  is  elec- 
tricity. 

Heat  or  caloric  comes  next  in  the  order  of  remark, 
and,  in  the  investigation  of  this  subject  we  shall  accu- 
mulate such  an  additional  array  of  facts  as  shall  es- 
tablish our  proposition  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

The  same  arguments  which  would  prove  that  light 
is  an  electric  fluid  are  applicable,  also,  to  the  agent  of 
heat.  Heat  like  light  is  imponderable,  subtle,  ethereal 
and  all-prevading.  No  obstacle  can  stay  its  passage. 
It  insinuates  itself  between  the  particles  of  the  densest 
bodies  as  though  it  were  immaterial.  Its  power 
is  prodigious — irresistible  in  its  energies.  It  gene- 
rates the  tremendous  power  that  propels  the  steam 
boat ;  and  were  it,  or  could  it,  by  any  means,  be  con- 
fined in  subterranean  volcanic  caverns  with  bands 
strong  enough,  and  there  accumulated,  it  would,  by 
the  power  of  its  expansive  and  explosive  force,  burst 
the  solid  globe  to  atoms,  and  send  its  shattered  frag- 
ments in  every  direction  through  the  vacuum  that  sur- 
rounds it. 


174  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT, 

With  a  glass  bulb  and  tube,  for  instance,  one  of  the 
energies  of  heat,  can  be  forcibly  demonstrated.  By 
inverting  it,  and  inserting  the  open  end  in  a  basin  of 
water  in  its  natural  state,  you  will  perceive  no  effect 
whatever.  But,  by  passing  into  the  tube  the  subtle 
agent  of  caloric  from  a  spirit  lamp,  and  again  invert- 
ing it,  you  will  see  the  water  rise  with  great  rapidity, 
and  fill  more  than  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  tube. 
This  shows  that  heat  has  the  power  to  expel  the  at- 
mosphere and  occupy  its  stead.  But  the  moment  you 
attempt  to  confine  it  there,  by  closing  the  tube,  it  is 
gone,  like  a  flash — gone  like  a  viewless,  incorporeal, 
intangible  thing,  and  the  water  rushes  up  to  fill  that 
vacuum. 

If  all  the  imponderables,  as  we  have  assumed,  be 
identical,  then  Light  and  Heat  are  the  same — they  co- 
exist and  are  inseparable.  But,  it  may  occur  to  some 
one,  that  those  phosphorescent  substances,  which  emit 
light,  do  not,  also,  emit  heat,  and  that  our  position  is, 
therefore,  untenable.  This  conclusion  is,  however, 
altogether  too  hastily  formed.  It  will  be  seen,  by  the 
following  lucid  extract  from  Turner,  that  heat  is  al- 
ways necessary  to  make  substances  phosphorescent. 

"The  chemical  agency  of  artificial  light  is  anal- 
ogous to  that  from  the  sun.  In  general  the  former  is 
too  feeble  for  producing  any  visible  effect ;  but  light 
of  considerable  intensity,  such  as  that  from  ignited 
lime,  darkens  chloride  of  silver,  and  seems  capable  of 
exerting  the  same  chemical  agencies  as  solar  light, 
though  in  a  degree  proportionate  to  its  inferior  bril- 
liancy. 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  175 

Light  is  emitted  by  some  substances,  either  at  com- 
mon temperatures,  or  at  a  degree  of  heat  dispropor- 
tioned  to  the  effect,  giving  rise  to  an  appearance  which 
is  called  phosphoresence.  This  is  exemplified  by  a 
composition  termed  Canton's  phosphorus,  made  by 
mixing  three  parts  of  calcined  oyster-shells  with  one  of 
the  flowers  of  sulphur,  and  exposing  the  mixture  for 
an  hour  to  a  strong  heat  in  a  covered  crucible.  The 
same  property  is  possessed  by  chloride  of  calcium 
(Homberg's  phosphorus,,)  anhydrous  nitrate  of  lime 
(Baldwin's  phosphorus,)  some  carbonates  and  sul- 
phates of  baryta,  strontia,  and  lime,  the  diamond, 
some  varieties  of  fluor-spar  called  chlorphane,  apatite, 
boracic  acid,  borax,  sulphate  of  potassa,  sea-salt,  and 
by  many  other  substances.  Scarcely  any  of  these 
phosphori  act  unless  they  have  been  previously  expos- 
ed to  light ;  for  some  diffused  day-light  or  even  lamp- 
light 'will  suffice  ;  while  others  require  the  direct  solar 
light,  or  the  light  of  an  electric  discharge.  Exposure 
for  a  few  seconds  to  sunshine,  enables  Canton's  phos- 
phorus to  emit  light  visible  in  a  dark  room  for  several 
hours  afterwards.  Warmth  increases  the  intensity  of 
light,  or  will  renew  it  after  it  has  ceased ;  but  it  di- 
minishes the  duration.  When  the  phosphorescence 
has  ceased  it  may  be  restored,  and  in  general  for  any 
number  of  times,  by  renewed  exposure  to  sunshine ; 
and  the  same  effect  maybe  produced  by  passing  elec- 
tric discharges  through  the  phosphorus.  Some  phos- 
phori, as  apatite  and  chlorophane,  do  not  shine  until 
they  are  gently  heated ;  and  yet,  if  exposed  to  a  red 


176  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

heat,  they  lose  the  property  so  entirely,  that  exposure 
to  solar  light  does  not  restore  it.  Mr.  Pearsall  has  re- 
marked that  in  these  minerals  the  phosphorescence, 
destroyed  by  heat,  is  restored  by  electric  discharges ; 
that  specimens  of  fluor-spar,  not  naturally  phospho- 
rescent, may  be  rendered  so  by  electricity ;  and  that 
this  agent  exalts  the  energy  of  natural  phosphori  in  a 
very  remarkable  degree.  The  theory  of  these  phen- 
omena, like  that  of  light  itself,  is  very  obscure.  They 
have  been  attributed  to  direct  absorption  of  light,  and 
its  subsequent  evolution  ;  but  the  fact,  that  the  color 
of  the  light  emitted  is  more  dependent  on  the  nature 
of  the  phosphorescent  body,  than  on  the  color  of  the 
light  to  which  it  was  exposed,  seems  inconsistent  with 
this  explanation.  Chemical  action  is  not  connected 
with  the  phenomena ;  for  the  phosphori  shine  in  vac- 
uo,  and  in  gases  which  do  not  act  on  them,  and  some 
even  under  water. 

Another  kind  of  phosphorescence  is  observable  in 
some  bodies  when  strongly  heated.  A  piece  of  lime, 
for  example,  heated  to  a  degree,  which  would  only 
make  other  bodies  red,  emits  a  brilliant  white  light  of 
such  intensity,  that  the  eye  cannot  support  its  impres- 
sion. 

A  third  species  of  phosphorescence  is  observed  in 
the  bodies  of  some  animals,  either  in  the  dead  or  liv- 
ing state.  Some  marine  animals,  and  particularly  fish, 
possess  it  in  a  remarkable  degree.  It  may  be  witness- 
ed in  the  body  of  the  herring,  which  begins  to  phos- 
phoresce a  day  or  two  after  death;  and  before  any  vis- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  177 

ible  sign  of  putrefaction  has  set  in.  Sea-water  is  ca- 
pable of  dissolving  the  luminous  matter;  and  it  is 
probably  from  this  cause  that  the  waters  of  the  ocean 
sometimes  appear  luminous  at  night  when  agitated. 
This  appearance  is  also  ascribed  to  the  presence  of 
certain  animalcules,  which;  like  the  glow-worm  of  this 
country,  or  the  fire-fly  of  the  West  Indies,  are  natu- 
urally  phosphorescent." 

Light  and  heat,  then,  we  regard  as  the  same  thing. 
They  co-exist  and  are  inseparable.  All  the  percepti- 
ble difference  between  them,  consists  in  volume  or  de- 
gree alone,  and  not  in  nature.  Light  exists  either  ra- 
diant or  in  a  state  of  diffusion,  and,  consequently, 
latent.  It  is  radiant  when  coming  from  the  sun  to 
the  earth,  but  the  moment  it  strikes  the  earth,  it  be- 
comes latent,  but  it  is  still  light,  just  as  much,  though 
not  seen,  as  it  was  before,  and,  could  it  be  condensed 
into  the  same  compass,  and  under  the  same  circum- 
stances as  before,  it  would  become  just  as  radiant  as 
before. 

Heat  is  only  light  in  a  state  of  diffusion,  as  we  be- 
fore remarked.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact,  that,  if 
you  condense  it  sufficiently,  you  make  it  light.  Take 
a  piece  of  iron,  for  instance,  and  heat  it  to  a  certain 
point,  and  it  is  still  latent,  or  invisible,  but  condense 
u  trifle  more  heat,  upon  the  iron,  and  it  begins  to  be 
light — condense  more  still  and  it  grows  lighter  and  so 
continue  and  you  make  it  glow,  at  length,  with  a  ra- 
diance almost  as  intense  as  that  of  the  sun  at  noon- 
day, but  still  it  is  only  heat.  Light,  then,  is  only  heat 
9 


178       PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

condensed,  and,  the  more  it  is  condensed,  the  more 
intense  is  that  radiance  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  heat 
when  latent,  or  invisible,  is  light  in  a  state  of  diffusion. 
All  the  difference,  then,  between  the  two,  is  in  volume 
or  degree,  and  in  volume  or  degree  alone. 

The  same  remarks  apply  with  equal  force  to  elec- 
tricity. When  condensed  in  the  electric  spark,  or  in 
the  galvanic  current,  or  in  the  blazing  thunderbolt,  it 
is  radiant  electricity,  but,  when  not  condensed,  it  is 
Intent  electricity,  or  electricity  in  a  state  of  diffusion 
and  invisibility.  But,  whether  radiant  or  latent,  it  is 
the  same  thing,  precisely,  only  accumulated  in  differ- 
ent volumes. 

Some  suppose,  that,  when  the  electric  spark,  or  the 
thunderbolt  explodes,  the  electricity  is  destroyed. — 
THat,  however,  is  an  erroneous  supposition,  as  can  be 
proven  by  experiment.  It  only  passes  into  a  state  of 
diffusion,  and  consequent  invisibility,  but  is  essentially 
the  same  thing  as  before,  and,  could  it  be  collected 
again,  would  exhibt  the  same  appearance,  as  before, 
and  explode  in  a  flash  equally  intense. 

Mr.  Cross,  a  literary  gentleman  of  England,  passed 
several  conductors  for  some  distance  over  the  trees  in 
his  park,  and  connected  them  all  with  a  single  one, 
which  passed  down  through  his  parlor.  In  this  main 
conductor,  which  passed  through  his  parlor,  he  had  a 
joint,  so  constructed,  that  he  could  break  the  connec- 
tion, and  leave  a  short  interval  between  the  two  sec- 
tions. Whenever  he  made  the  separation,  whether  in 
fair  weather  or  in  foul,  there  was  a  constant  succession 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      179 

of  brilliant  electric  sparks,  passing  from  one  conduc- 
tor to  the  other.  Without  this  disconnection,  the 
electricity  would  have  passed  over  the  conductor  in 
just  as  great  a  volume,  but  would  have  been  invisible 
or  latent,  and,  of  consequence,  been  the  same  precis- 
ly  as  if  radiant. 

The  fact  that  luminous  and  invisible  electricity  are 
the  same,  though  condensed  more,  in  one  instance 
than  in  the  other,  can  be  incontrovertibly  proven,  by 
an  experiment  with  what  is  called  the  spiral  tube  or 
diamond  neck  lace.     Over  the  glass,  at  very  small  in- 
tervals, are  glued  little  pieces  of  tin  foil.     There  is 
probably  a  hundred  of  those  pieces,  in  a  distance  of 
two  feet,  and,  as  many  spaces  between  them.     Now, 
communicate  a  spark  of  electricity,  either  from  the 
electric  machine  or  a  charged  Leyden  jar,  and,  in  its 
passage  through  the  tube,  it  will  become  alternately 
luminous  and  latent  one  hundred  times  in  the  distance 
of  two  feet,  which,  certainly,  would  not  be  the  case, 
if  electricity  is  destroyed  or  changed  at  all  by  explo- 
sion.    It  is  latent,  when  passing  the  tin  foil,  and  lu- 
minous, when  passing  the  intervals,  simply  because  it 
is  more  diffused  upon  the  tin  foil  than  in  the  spaces. 
Such  an  alternate  arrangement  of  tin  foil  and  spaces 
might  be  extended,  until  they  should  number  many 
millions,  arid  an  electric  spark  would  become  alternate- 
ly luminous  and  latent  as  many  millions  of  times,  in 
its  passage  over  them.     All  the  difference,  then,  be- 
tween radiant  and  invisible  electricity  is  in  volume  or 
condensation,  and  light  and  heat,  as  we  have  seen,  ex- 
hibit precisely  the  same  analogies. 


180  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEATS 

We  will  here  briefly  enumerate  a  mass  of  addition- 
al facts,  which  show  the  identity  of  caloric,  light  and 
electricity. 

Good  conductors  of  heat  are  also  good  conductors 
of  electricity,  and  poor  conductors  of  one  are  poor 
conductors  of  the  other. 

Heat  affects  bodies  inversely  according  to  the 
squares  of  the  distance.  This  is  the  organic  law  of 
light,  electricity  and  magnetism.  It  speaks  volumes 
in  favor  of  the  proposition  that  the  sun  is  the  fountain 
of  all  electricity,  since  the  basis  of  this  principle, 
which  runs  through  all  the  imponderables,  seems  to 
be  laid  in  the  law  of  the  divergence  or  radiation  of 
light. 

Heat  radiates  in  all  directions  like  light,  and  its  an- 
gle of  incidence  and  of  reflection  are  the  same. 

Vessels  containing  a  hot  liquid  will  radiate  heat 
much  faster,  if  they  have  a  rough  surface,  than  those 
which  have  a  smooth  and  polished  one.  The  reason 
of  this  is,  because  the  rough  surface  has  a  great  num- 
ber of  minute  points,  from  which  the  heat  will  escape, 
the  same  as  electricity.  The  polished  vessel  has  no 
points  for  radiation,  and,  therefore,  retains  the  heat. 

In  accordance  with  the  same  law  precisely,  a  pol- 
ished vessel,  containing  cold  water,  when  placed  be- 
fore a  fire,  will  not  be  heated  so  quickly,  as  one  hav- 
ing a  rough  surface,  because  it  presents  no  points  to 
attract  heat,  but  reflects  it  rather. 

That  was  an  important  era  in  the  history  of  science, 
when  the  lightning  of  the  clouds  was  identified  with 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  181 

electricity.  Quite  as  important  will  be  the  era,  when 
caloric  and  that  lightning  shall  be  demonstrated  to  be 
one  and  the  same  thing.  If  that  ever  take  place,  the 
propositions  we  have  assumed  will  be  proven  to  be 
correct,  beyond  the  possibility  of  cavil,  or  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt.  This  subject,  then,  is  richly  worthy  of  a 
thorough  investigation.  What  are  the  phenomena 
attendant  upon  a  thunderstorm,  and  what  are  the 
causes  which  conspire  to  produce  it?  Storms,  at- 
tended with  thunder  and  lightning,  seldom  occur,  ex- 
cept in  very  warm  weather;  arid  the  warmer  the 
weather,  the  more  frequent  they  are,  and  the  more 
vivid,  rapid  and  intense  are  the  lurid  flashes  of  the  red 
bolt  of  heaven.  They  prevail  in  the  northern  zones 
in  the  summer,  in  the  southern  in  the  winter,  and  in 
the  torrid  regions  throughout  the  year.  This  is  the 
"modus  operandi"  of  their  doings. 

During  the  hot  weather  of  the  summer  months,  a 
vast  amount  of  caloric  is  poured  down  from  the  sun, 
and  diffuses  itself  throughout  the  waters  of  the  foun- 
tains, rivers,  lakes  and  oceans  of  the  globe,  and  pro- 
duces evaporation  ;  for,  it  is  a  fact,  which  is  general- 
ly acknowledged,  and  which  no  one  will  dispute,  that 
caloric  is  the  vaporizing  agent  the  world  over.  This 
vapor,  when  generated,  rises,  we  know,  and  forms  the 
clouds.  The  caloric  or  heat,  which  originated  it,  is 
absolutely  required  to  keep  it  in  a  state  of  vapor;  for, 
the  moment  it  is  abstracted  by  any  process  or  cause 
whatever,  that  moment  vapor  ceases  to  be  vapor,  and 
is  condensed  into  water  again.  This  is  proved  by  the 


18'2  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

condensation  of  vapor  or  steam,  in  a  low  pressure  en- 
gine, for  instance,  where,  by  the  abstraction  of  its  ca- 
loric by  cold,  it  returns  to  water. 

Now,  what  takes  place  during  a  thunder  storm,  af- 
ter a  hot  sultry  day,  in  which  vast  quantities  of  vapor 
were  generated,  and  with  which  vast  quantities  of  ca- 
loric rose  to  keep  it  in  a  state  of  vapor  —  what  takes 
place,  we  ask,  during  a  thunder  storm  at  such  a  time  ? 
Why  simply  this.  Clouds  that  are  charged  with  ca- 
loric, some  plus  and  others  minus,  or  some  positive 
and  others  negative,  are  drawn  together,  by  the  strong 
attraction  of  opposite  polarities,  two  clouds,  having  an 
affinity  for  each  other,  rush  together  —  the  caloric 
which  kept  the  vapor  in  a  state  of  vapor,  is  thus  giv- 
en out  from  one  to  the  other  —  explosion  takes  place 
—  the  cause  which  produced  the  vapor,  and  kept  it 
so,  having  vanished,  it  is  condensed,  of  course,  into 
water,  and  being  then  heavier  than  the  surrounding 
medium — heavier  than  the  circumambient  atmos- 
phere, which  before  sustained  it,  it  is  immediately  pre- 
cipitated to  the  earth  by  gravitation,  in  the  form  of 
showers. 

If  a  thunder  storm  be  watched,  during  the  process 
of  nimbification,  it  will  be  seen  that  little  dark  clouds 
seem  to  congregate  from  every  point  of  the  compass, 
sometimes,  and  will  conglomerate  and  thicken  into 
deeper  and  deeper  density  and  darkness,  those,  which 
have  the  least  caloric  run  the  lowest,  while  those  which 
have  the  greatest  quantity,  run  the  highest ;  as  they 
'come  parallel  to  each  other,  the  lower  strata  will  lift, 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  183 

while  the  upper  will  settle  down,  being  attracted  by 
each  other,  until  they  come  within  striking  distance, 
when  the  plus  of  the  upper  strata  is  given  out  to  the 
minus  of  the  lower,  in  the  form  of  an  explosion,  and, 
during  this  concussion,  a  large  share  of  the  caloric, 
which  was  treasured  up  in  the  vaporous  vesicles  of 
both  clouds,  is  abstracted  in  thunderbolts,  and  thus 
copious  discharges  of  condensed  vapor  or  water  follow 
each  flash. 

This  accounts  for  the  reason  why  the  bolt,  most 
generally,  passes  downward  from  the  cloud  to  the 
earth.  The  upper  strata  being  plus,  gives  out  its  ca- 
loric to  the  lower,  which  is  always  relatively  minus, 
and,  therefore,  the  scathing  fires  of  heaven  oftener 
leap  downward  than  in  any  other  direction. 

Lightning,  then,  or  the  electricity  of  the  clouds,  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  caloric,  abstracted  from 
vapor  by  strong  chemical  affinities,  and  by  explosion. 
It  is  radiant  caloric,  and  caloric  is  electricity.  We 
believe  that  no  philosopher,  or  chemist  can  account 
for  all  the  phenomena  of  the  thunderstorm,  and  of  the 
lightning,  in  any  other  way. 

To  show  that  we  stand  not  alone  in  the  advocacy 
of  such'sentiments,  we  will  quote  from  that  rare  and 
excellent  work  by  Dr.  Metcalf,  entitled  a  new  theory 
of  terrestrial  magnetism. 

"  It  was  observed,  long  ago,  by  Dr.  Franklin,  that 
masses  of  vapor  in  different  states  of  electricity,  at- 
tracted each  other  far  beyond  what  he  called  the  stri- 
king distance. 


184  PEOPERT1ES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

"  It  has  probably  been  remarked  by  every  person  of 
observation,  that  light  masses  of  vapor  from  the  ocean, 
on  approaching  a  mass  of  colder  vapor  from  the  north- 
ern points  of  the  compass,  approximate  each  other 
with  accelerated  velocity,  when  the  colder  current  of 
vapor  attracts  caloric  from  the  warmer ;  and  it  is  con- 
densed into  a  hazy  mist  or  cloud. 

"  This  is  the  rationale  of  serial  condensations. — 
When  a  cloud  is  once  formed,  having  parted  with  a 
portion  of  its  caloric,  it  is  minus  in  relation  to  all  un- 
condensed  or  transparent  vapor,  which  is  plus.  So 
that  it  becomes  a  centre  of  attraction,  drawing  to  it 
successive  masses  of  vapor,  and  abstracting  their  ca- 
loric, by  which  a  perpetual  condensation  or  nimbifica- 
tion  is  kept  up,  until  an  equilibrium  is  restored. 

"  It  would  seem  obvious  to  the  most  superficial  ob- 
server, that  caloric  is.  the  cause  of  evaporation,  inas- 
much as  the  greatest  amount  of  evaporation  takes 
place  in  regions  which  receive  most  of  the  sun's  heat, 
We  may  form  some  idea  of  the  vast  amount  of  calor- 
ic contained  in  atmospheric  vapor,  when  we  reflect, 
that  a  pound  of  vapor  will  raise  the  temperature  of  a 
pound  of  water  nearly  1000  degrees  —  that  its  bulk 
is  increased  about  1800  times  in  passing  from  a  state 
of  water  to  that  of  vapor,  and  that  all  the  rivers  of 
the  earth  are  supplied  by  its  precipitation. 

"  What  then  becomes  of  all  the  caloric  which  must 
be  given  out  during  the  condensation  of  this  vapor  ? 
We  know  that  thunder  and  lightning  are  most  abun- 
dant in  tropical  regions,  and  during  hot,  sultry  weath- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT.  185 

er  in  the  middle  latitudes.  Hence  we  infer,  that  the 
caloric  of  vapor,  when  greatly  accumulated,  is  giv- 
en out  rapidly,  in  the  form  of  electricity,  on  ap- 
proaching a  colder  mass  of  vapor,  which  is  nega- 
tively charged  with  caloric." 

But  it  may,  in  this  connection,  be  asked,  what 
causes  rain,  when  lightning  is  not  visible.  The  ca- 
loric is  given  out  gradually,  and,  in  such  a  volume 
that  it  is  latent.  This  is  either  done  by  the  vicinity 
of  cold  and  warm  masses  of  vapor,  or  the  attraction 
of  mountainous  ridges,  or  of  the  minus  earth. 

If  this  be  true,  we  can  see,  at  once,  the  reason  why, 
upon  the  great  desert  of  Zahara,  where  there  are  no 
mountains,  and  where  the  earth  is  almost  always  plus, 
it  rarejy,  if  ever,  rains.  The  earth,  being  plus,  and 
imparting  caloric  to  the  masses  of  vapor,  as  they  float 
over  it,  rarefies  them,  and  makes  them  float  higher, 
rather  than  aids  in  their  condensation.  It  would  be 
utterly  impossible,  therefore,  for  it  to  rain  oftener  up- 
on that  desert. 

The  same  cause  dissipates  all  appearances  of  rain 
in  certain  sections  during  the  prevalence  of  a  drouth, 
so  that  showers  will  pass  round  day  after  day,  each 
side  of  them,  and  seem  to  shun  them.  The  earth 
has,  in  those  sections,  become  plus  and  rarefies  the 
clouds,  as  they  pass  by,  floats  them  higher,  and  pre- 
vents condensation.  As  a  general  occurrence,  such 
spots  are  encroached  upon  gradually  by  showers,  un- 
til they  are,  at  length,  made  minus,  and  then  they  are 
visited  by  the  refreshing  rain. 
9* 


186  PROPERTIES    OP    LIGHT   AND    HEAT. 

Could  a  large  tower  be  erected,  some  one  or  two 
thousand  feet  high,  in  the  very  centre  of  the  great 
desert  of  Zahara,  and  could  its  top  be  kept  filled  with 
ice,  it  would  be  the  cause  of  the  perpetual  nimbifica- 
tion  of  clouds,  by  its  abstraction  of  their  caloric.— 
The  consequence  would  be  that  it  would  be  visited 
with  frequent  and  vivifying  showers. 

The  sun  is  the  great  fountain  of  light.  Were  it, 
however,  extinguished,  as  in  Byron's  poetic  dream  on 
darkness,  there  would  be  neither  heat  nor  electricity, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  were  there  no  heat  nor  elec- 
tricity, there  could  be  no  light;  for  light  is  necessarily 
produced  by  the  heat,  which  is  indispensably  requis- 
ite to  render  substances  combustible,  and,  without 
which,  they  would  not  ignite,  nor  become  combusti- 
ble, nor  luminous  at  all.  They  are  inseparable  from 
each  other,  and  from  electricity,  and  if  you  destroy 
the  existence  of  the  one,  by  the  same  process,  you 
destroy  the  existence  of  all. 

The  fact  is,  the  sun,  which  sends  forth  its  streams 
of  light  and  heat,  is  the  great  fountain  of  electricity 
—  the  great  galvanic  battery  of  the  solar  system. — 
Could  it  be  stripped,  at  once,  of  those  splendors,  which 
sweep  incessantly  over  the  vast  domain  of  its  depen- 
dent worlds,  and  be  left  a  dark,  cold,  opaque  body, 
what  think  you,  would  be  the  consequence?  Why, 
in  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  yea,  in  less  than  twelve 
hours,  this  globe  would  become  a  solid  mass  of  ice, 
from  surface  to  centre,  as  well  as  every  other  body  of 
the  solar  system.  The  very  atmosphere  would  be 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    A^JD    HEAT.  187 

congealed  into  an  iceberg.  The  heart  of  nature 
would  cease  to  beat.  The  pulse  of  nature  would 
stand  still. —  The  powers  of  nature  would  all  be  pal- 
sied, chilled,  and  frozen  to  death.  In  such  a  sup- 
posed contingency,  the  orbs,  if  they  moved  at  all, 
would  wander,  cheerless,  black  and  without  order, 
through  the  vast  expanse  of  desolation,  dashing  mad- 
ly against  each  other,  in  their  blind  and  ungoverned 
career. 

Or  else,  as  is  most  probable  in  such  a  contingency, 
all  motion  would  be  stagnated,  and  every  energy,  ev- 
ery muscle,  every  nerve  of  the  universe  would  be 
withered,  stiffened,  clothed  with  the  rigidity  of  death. 
All  sound  would  die  away  upon  the  palpable  black- 
ness of  chaos.  No  elastic  medium  would  convey  the 
tones  of  harmony  by  its  vibrations.  All  nature  would 
be  dumb. 

While  thinking  upon  this  subject,  I  have  permitted 
imagination,  sometimes,  to  have  unfettered  sway,  and 
to  sketch  the  gloomy  picture  of  the  reality  of  such  a 
supposition.  In  doing  so,  no  description  of  the  scene 
which  I  could  paint,  seemed  so  graphic,  as  the  lan- 
guage of  Byronbs  poetic  dream  on  darkness,  when 

" The  world  was  void. 

lk  The  populous  and  powerful  was  a  lump, 

"  Seasonless,  herbless,  treeless,  mariless,  lifeless, 

"  A  lump  of  death — a  chaos  of  hard  clay. 

"  The  rivers,  lakes  and  oceans  all  stood  still. 

"  And  nothing  stirred  within  their  silent  depths- 

"  Ships  sailorless,  lay  rotting  on  the  sea, 

"  And  their  masts  tell  down  piece  meal — 

11  As  they  dropped,  they  slept  upon  the  abyss  without  a  surge. 

"  The  waves  were  dead.    The  tides  were  in  their  graves. 

"  The  moon,  their  mistress,  had  expired  before, 

"  The  winds  were  withered  in  the  stagnant  air, 

"  And  the  clouds  perished.    Darkness  had  no  need 

kk  Of  aid  from  them— UBK  WAS  THE  UMIVKRSE." 


188  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

This  description,  or  a  description  like  this,  though 
almost  horrid  enough  to  make  the  blood  run  chill, 
would  be  no  fiction.  Should  the  light  and  caloric  of 
the  sun  be  abstracted  from  the  universe,  there  would 
be  no  electricity.  It  would,  with  the  rapidity  of  a 
flash,  complete  its  circuit,  and  perish  with  its  cause. 
It  could  be  no  longer  excited  by  friction.  No  galvan- 
ic arrangement  of  metalic  plates,  could  produce  it. — 
And  then,  motion  would  cease.  —  All  life  would  in- 
stantly become  extinct,  and  darkness  and  death  would 
reign  triumphant  and  universal. 


LECTURE    IX. 

THE  CAUSES  OF  MAGNETIC  ATTRACTION,  THE  AURORA,  GRAVI- 
TATION, COHESION,  AND  THE  MOTION  OF  PLANETS  DEMON- 
STRATED BY  A  VARIETY  OF  ARGUMENTS  TO  BE  ELECTRIC 
AND  IDENTICAL. 

In  view  of  the  facts  and  arguments,  which  have 
already  been  submitted  to  the  reader,  we  shall  now 
consider  it  a  conceded  point,  that  we  have  proven 
the  identity  between  solar  light,  caloric  and  electrici- 
ty. To  test  still  farther  the  correctness  of  the  princi- 
ples advocated,  we  will  proceed  to  account,  if  possible, 
for  certain  mysterious  and  hitherto  inscrutable  phe- 
nomena, which  can  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  if 
our  positions  be,  at  all,  tenable. 

There  have,  for  ages,  been  certain  vague  and  in- 
definite ideas,  floating  in  the  public  mind,  respecting 
the  causes  of  magnetic  attraction.  While  some  have 
thought,  that  there  was  a  certain  incomprehensible 
control  over  the  needle  of  the  compass  exerted  by  the 
north  pole  star,  others  have  approached  somewhat 
nearer  to  scientific  accuracy,  by  ascribing  this  cori- 
troling  influence  to  terrestrial  magnetism.  But  how 
terrestrial  magnetism  is  produced,  and  by  what  laws 
it  is  governed,  the  latter  class  have  been  about  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  the  former.  But,  if  the  posi- 
tions we  have  assumed  be  true — if  solar  light  and 


190  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

heat  be  electricity,  and,  if  the  sun  be  its  fountain,  we 
have  a  key,  which  will  unlock  all  this  mystery,  which 
has  hitherto  been  so  inscrutable.  To  this  important 
and  useful  purpose  we  will  then  apply  it. 

How,  upon  the  theory,  that  the  sun  is  the  fountain 
of  electric  influences,  is  terrestrial  magnetism  account- 
ed for  ?  The  sun  being  the  great  galvanic  reservoir, 
pours  its  stream  of  light  and  heat,  vertically,  upon  the 
space  embracing  47  degrees  of  the  earth's  middle  re- 
gions, or  23J  degrees  each  side  of  the  equator,  con- 
stituting the  torrid  zone.  Let  the  temperature  of  the 
other  zones  vary  as  it  may,  the  heat  of  the  torrid  is 
always  uniform,  and  always  excessive  compared  with 
either  the  temperate  or  the  frigid  zones.  Thus  the 
torrid  regions,  by  being  more  directly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  sun's  rays,  become  more  deeply  elec- 
trified, than  either  the  temperate  or  the  frigid. 
What  is  the  consequence  ?  The  equatorial  regions 
are  positive  or  plus,  while  the  polar  regions  are  com- 
paratively negative  or  minus.  There  are  two  rea- 
sons for  this.  The  47  degrees,  or  the  3266  J  statute 
miles  of  the  earth's  surface,  embraced  between  23J 
degrees  of  north,  and  23 £  degrees  of  south  latitude, 
constitute  the  bulkiest  part  of  the  globe,  and,  even 
if  the  remaining  part,  including  the  north  and  south 
temperate,  and  north  and  south  frigid  zones,  were 
as  directly  exposed  to  the  sun's  rays,  as  is  the  torrid, 
(which  supposition  is,  however,  an  impossibility,)  the 
equator  would  in  that  case  still  be  plus,  and  the  poles 
minus,  because  the  torrid  regions  are  the  bulkiest, 


OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT.  191 


and  receive,  therefore,  the  greatest  amount  of  the 
electric  fluid. 

But  the  principal  reason  why  one  is  plus  and  the 
other  minus,  is,  because  the  one  receives  the  rays 
more  vertically  than  the  other.  Now'  for  the  appli- 
cation of  an  infallible  rule.  The  equatorial  regions, 
being  plus  or  positive,  and  the  poles  being  minus  or 
negative,  there  is  a  mutual  attraction  'of  the  plus  or 
superabundant  fluid  of  the  one,  and  the  minus  of  the 
other,  upon  that  immutable  and  universal  chemical 
principle,  that  opposite  polarities,  or  a  positive  and 
negative  always  attract,  or  that  caloric  always  seeks 
to  keep  up  an  equilibrium  or  restore  it  when  dis- 
turbed. 

Besides,  from  this  immutable  and  universal  law  of 
caloric,  to  keep  up  or  restore  an  equilibrium,  its  par- 
ticles, if  they  have  opposite  polarities,  and  if  the  plus 
end,  in  radiations,  or  emanations,  always  moves  first, 
must  present,  at  the  equator,  their  minus  polarities  to 
each  other,  and  of  course,  be  continually  repelled 
outward  each  way  toward  the  poles. 

So,  then,  there  are  actually  two  forces  operating 
upon  the  superabundant  electricity  or  caloric  of  the 
equator.  And  what  is  the  consequence  of  the  com- 
bined action  of  these  two  forces  ?  Why,  there  will  be 
two  strong  currents  of  electricity,  rushing  continu- 
ally, with  lightning  speed,  from  the  equator,  each 
way,  and  these  currents  will,  if  this  theory  be  true, 
run  towards  the  point  of  greatest  cold,  north  and 
south,  instead  of  the  geographic  pole. 


192  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

Some,  perhaps,  might  contend,  that  if  the  streams 
of  caloric  constitute  the  directive  power,  which  is 
exerted,  by  some  agent  over  the  needle  of  the  com- 
pass, they  must  move  spirally,  in  order  to  produce 
that  influence,  which  is  actually  exerted.  Such  may 
confidently  infer  this,  from  the  fact  that  certain  ex- 
periments have  been  made,  which  would  seem  to 
prove  it.  A  sheet  iron  globe  has  been  constructed, 
and  so  wound  spirally,  from  the  north  to  the  south 
pole,  with  insulated  copper  wire,  that  it  would  make 
the  needle  arrange  itself  north  and  south,  whenever 
the  galvanic  current  was  sent  through  the  wire  from 
one  pole  to  the  other,  by  connecting  the  wires,  at  the 
two  poles  with  the  poles  of  the  galvanic  battery. 

But  the  inference,  that  such  must  be  the  spiral 
course  of  the  electric  current  around  the  earth,  by 
no  means  follows  from  this  experiment ;  for,  it  must 
be  recollected,  that  there  are  two  different  currents, 
or  two  currents  running  in  opposite  directions  from 
the  equator  to  the  poles,  with  their  polarities  arranged, 
of  course,  in  opposite  directions,  the  same,  precisely, 
as  if,  from  the  equator  towards  the  poles  of  such  a 
hollow  sphere,  two  currents  should  be  sent  in  oppo- 
site directions  from  two  galvanic  batteries.  By  such 
an  experiment  it  could  be  demonstrated  conclusively, 
that  the  needle  would  arrange  itself  north  and  south, 
without  having  the  galvanic  fluid  circulate  around 
spirally. 

But  it  would  not  discredit  the  correctness  of  our 
theory  at  all,  if  it  were  necessary  that  there  should 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  193 

be  spiral  currents,  for  there  is,  doubtless,  a  minor 
current,  running  spirally  around  the  earth,  from  west 
to  east,  owing  to  the  fact,  that,  by  the  diurnal  revo- 
lution, that  side  of  the  earth  which  is  in  darkness,  is 
relatively  minus,  when  compared  with  that  part  which 
is  under  the  immediate  influence  of  the  sunlight. 

Now,  then,  for  the  explanation  of  magnetic  attrac- 
tion. It  has  been  ascertained  by  experiment,  that 
currents  of  electricity  will  influence  the  needle. 
The  reason,  then,  why  the  north  pole  guides  the 
needle  when  north  of  the  equator,  and  the  south  pole 
when  south  of  the  equator,  is  perfectly  obvious. 
These  currents  of  electricity,  rushing  from  the  equa- 
tor to  the  poles,  constitute  what  is  called  terrestrial 
magnetism.  They  give  direction  to  the  needle  of 
the  compass.  As  the  point  of  greatest  cold  varies, 
so  they  vary,  and  as  they  vary,  so  the  needle  varies. 
Were  the  geographic  pole  of  the  earth  the  point  of 
attraction,  as  has  been  supposed  by  some,  the  needle 
would  never  vary  at  all,  but,  as  it  is,  it  varies  both 
diurnally  and  annually,  because  there  are  causes 
always  operating  at  the  north  pole  to  change  the 
point  of  greatest  cold,  particularly  in  the  summer 
season,  when  the  floating  icebergs  or  ice  islands  of 
the  Artie  are  continually  changing  their  position. 

There  are  other  mysterious  phenomena  which  can 
be  rationally  and  philosophically  accounted  for,  only 
upon  the  supposition,  that  there  are  such  currents  of 
electricity, -as  we  have  been  describing.  They  are 
the  Aurora  Borealisand  Aurora  Australis,  or  the  nor- 


194  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

them  and  southern  lights,  for  there  are  southern 
lights  as  well  as  northern.  If  caloric  be  electricity 
as  we  have  supposed,  and  there  are  currents  passing 
from  the  torrid  to  the  point  of  greatest  cold  in  the 
frigid  zone,  the  question  arises  "  what  becomes  of 
this  electric  fluid,  when  it  arrives  at  that  point  of 
greatest  cold  ?  "  Why,  it  streams  up  into  the  rarer 
regions  of  the  atmosphere,  and  in  its  return  to  the 
equator,  it  spreads  out  into  the  lambent,  waving  light, 
exhibited  by  the  aurora,  the  appearance  being  the 
same,  precisely,  as  electricity  exhibits,  when  passing 
through  an  exhausted  tube,  the  same  cause — the  rar- 
ity of  the  atmosphere,  operating  in  both  cases,  to 
produce  a  luminous  waving  cloud,  which  proves  that 
they  must  be  identical. 

As  we  progress  in  the  investigation  of  this  subject, 
we  find  evidence  accumulating  upon  evidence — all 
linked  together,  and  all  sustaining  the  truth  of  our 
main  proposition. 

Captains  Parry  and  Ross  ascertained,  in  their  expe- 
dition to  discover  a  northwest  passage,  that  the  focal 
point,  from  which  streams  upwards  the  Aurora  Bo- 
realis,  was  exactly  the  point  of  magnetic  attraction,  for, 
when  sailing  over  that  point,  the  dipping  needle  stood 
exactly  perpendicular,  while  the  horizontal  needle 
would  not  traverse  at  all,  but  would  remain  in  any  posi- 
tion in  which  it  was  placed.  When  west  of  that  point, 
their  dipping  needle  would  incline  to  the  east,  when 
east  of  it,  it  would  incline  to  the  west.  They  occa- 
sionally found  that  the  focal  point,  or  the  point  from 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      195 

which  the  Aurora  Borealis  streams  upward,  was  south 
of  them,  and  in  that  case  the  north  pole  of  the  nee- 
dle turned  round  and  pointed  southward,  so  that,  let 
them  move  where  they  might,  its  guiding  influence 
on  the  compass  was  still  the  same. 

They  also  ascertained  another  important  fact — 
that  this  point  of  attraction  was  comparatively  that 
of  the  greatest  cold. 

All  these  facts  combining  their  evidence,  and  sus- 
taining that  of  each  other,  can  there  be  any  rational 
doubt.,  but  that  the  caloric  of  the  equator  is  elec- 
tricity ? 

See  how  admirably  these  facts  are  linked  together, 
and  how  each  sustains  the  ultimate  conclusion.  Ca- 
loric streams  down  from  the  sun — deeply  electrifies 
the  equatorial  regions — by  a  law  of  nature  rushes 
towards  the  greatest  cold  of  the  poles — guides  the 
needle  invariably  towards  the  greatest  cold — streams 
upward,  as  it  passes  out  from  the  magnetic  pole — 
rises  into  the  rarer  or  thinner  regions  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and,  like  electricity  in  its  passage  through  an 
exhausted  tube,  spreads  out  into  a  luminous  cloud, 
and  forms  the  Aurora  Borealis  at  the  north,  and  the 
Aurora  Australis  at  the  south.  Now,  can  there  be 
any  stronger  proof  or  any  greater  accumulation  of 
proof,  that  caloric  is,  in  fact,  electricity,  short  of  ac- 
tual mathematical  demonstration  ?  One,  who  could 
not  be  convinced  by  such  an  array  of  facts,  each 
supporting  the  other,  could  hardly  be  convinced,  we 
should  be  inclined  to  suppose,  by  the  evidence  of  his 


196  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

senses.  He  would  be  like  that  ancient  sect  of  scep- 
tical philosophers,  who  doubted  every  thing — even 
their  own  identity. 

In  continuation  of  our  explanations  of  various  phe- 
nomena of  nature,  which  have,  heretofore,  been  left 
unexplained,  or  enveloped  in  a  metaphysical  fog,  we 
would  remark,  that  there  are  yet  other  important  and 
essential  links,  in  the  chain  of  evidence,  which  we 
have  been  linking  together,  all  of  which  will  have  a 
tendency  to  make  the  logical  accuracy  of  our  deduc- 
tions more  clear,  and  our  conclusions  more  and  more 
undeniable  and  convincing. 

Gravitation,  another  imponderable  principle  of  na- 
ture, is  one  of  those  links — a  link  too  which,  so  far 
from  diminishing  or  impairing,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
the  strength  of  the  previous  chain  of  deduction,  adds 
to  it  increasing  power  of  tenacity,  and  resistance  to 
efforts  of  prejudice  or  scepticism  to  break  it — a  link, 
which  is  intimately  connected,  as  we  shall  attempt  to 
show,  with  the  mysterious  power  of  electro-magnet- 
ism. 

No  topic,  in  the  whole  range  of  the  sciences,  has, 
heretofore,  seemed  to  students  more  unaccountable — » 
more  involved  in  a  dark  and  misty  shroud  of  uncer- 
tainty, than  gravitation.  Upon  what  known  philoso- 
phical, astronomical,  or  chemical  law,  bodies,  within  a 
certain  distance,  are  attracted  towards  the  earth,  has, 
for  a  long  time  been  regarded  by  the  learned  and 
treated,  as  an  inexplicable  enigma. 

It  is  no  solution  of  the  riddle — no  satisfactory  ex- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  197 

planation,  to  affirm,  that  it  is  attraction.  If  the  at- 
tempt be  made,  by  any  one,  so  to  define  it,  the  ques- 
tion instantly  suggests  itself  to  the  unsatisfied  mind 
of  the  dilligent  enquirer  after  scientific  truth — what 
causes  this  attraction — why  do  all  bodies,  when  sup- 
ported in  mid  air,  fall  to  the  earth,  instead  of  flying 
off  in  a  tangent — away  from  it,  into  space  ?"  We 
answer,  that  there  must  be  some  definite  reason  ex- 
isting in  the  nature  of  things  for  this  phenomenon. 
What,  then,  is  that  reason  ? 

It  will  not  avail  anything,  as  we  have  seen,  to  say, 
that  it  is  attraction,  or,  that  it  is  the  attraction  of  grav- 
itation. This  method  of  solving  the  enigma  would 
only  be  reasoning  in  a  circle,  as  logicians  would  call 
it — would  be  only  giving  a  simpleton's  solution,  by  say- 
ing that  a  thing  is  so,  because  it  is  so.  It  conveys  no 
definite  idea  to  the  mind — is  referable  to  no  general 
scientific  law.  So  far  as  purposes  of  lucid  and  per- 
spicuous illustration  are  concerned,  it  might  just  as 
well  be  said,  that  attraction  of  attraction  causes  that 
known  disposition  of  bodies  to  seek  the  earth,  as  to 
be  said,  that  the  attraction  of  gravitation  causes  it, 
for,  the  words,  indicating  or  defining  the  cause,  are, 
in  both  cases,  equally  vague,  having  no  definite  idea 
attached  to  either  of  them.  If  we  are  told  that  all 
bodies  of  any  bulk  and  density,  have  an  inherent 
tendency  to  approach  other  bodies  of  matter  larger 
and  heavier  than  themselves,  upon  the  principle  of  at- 
traction, and  that  this  is  the  attraction  of  gravitation, 
is  it  any  explanation  at  all  ?  Certainly  not.  Instead 


198  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

of  throwing  any  light  upon  the  subject,  it  is  only  the 
substitution  of  one  vague  term,  for  another  term 
equally  vague.  The  question  still  rushes  upon  the 
unsatisfied  mind,  with  undiminished  force — "  What 
causes  this  gravitating  tendency  ?  Why  do  bodies 
tend  downward  towards  the  earth  instead  of  upwards 
from  it?" 

Shall  it  be  said  that  it  is  an  insolvable  mystery, 
which  is  beyond  the  ken  of  human  investigation,  and 
so  let  it  pass?  Will  men  permit  themselves  to  be 
thus  baffled  in  their  researches  into  the  nature  and 
causes  of  things,  by  difficulties,  which,  perhaps,  a 
stern  and  unbending  perseverance  might  overcome  ? 
This  would  be  neither  wise  nor  manly.  There  is  not, 
we  are  persuaded,  the  cause  of  a  single  solitary  effect 
of  any  kind  in  the  universe,  except  the  great  uncrea- 
ted cause  of  all  effects — or,  in  other  words,  a  single 
secondary  cause  of  any  effect  whatever,  which  may 
not,  in  time,  by  patient  and  persevering  investigation 
— by  comparing  laws  and  agencies  and  influences,  be 
satisfactorily  ascertained. 

What,  for  instance,  is  a  fundamental  law  of  elec- 
trical attraction? — Why,  an  excited  body,  attracts  an 
unexcited  body,  that  approaches  it,  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  square  of  the  distance.  Iron,  when  tem- 
porarily magnetised  by  the  galvanic  or  electric  fluid, 
or  steel,  when  permanently  magnetized,  attracts  con- 
tiguous metals  precisely  in  the  same  proportions,  and, 
although  magnetism  and  electricity  wexe  once  thought 
to  have  no  sort  of  alliance  with  each  other,  yet,  they 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  199 

are  now  proven,  beyond  controversy,  to  be  but  one. 
And  what  may  we  infer  from  this  coincidence  be- 
tween the  two,  and  the  identity  of  their  laws  and 
agencies  ?  Why,  that  any  other  imponderable,  which 
shall  exhibit  the  operations  of  the  same  governing 
laws,  without  a  shade  of  difference,  may,  also,  yea, 
and  will  be  found  to  be  produced  by  the  very  same 
cause,  upon  the  immutable  principle  of  nature,  that 
like  causes  produce  like  effects. 

Here  then  we  have  a  key  to  unlock  the  mystery  of 
gravitation — a  rule  to  solve  every  enigma,  and  every 
difficulty  satisfactorily.  The  attraction  which  the 
earth  exerts  over  loose  bodies  above  its  surface,  is  go- 
verned by  the  very  same  laws  precisely,  as  magnet- 
ism and  electrical  attraction — it  draws  them,  with  a 
force,  which  varies  in  inverse  proportions  according 
to  the  squares  of  the  distance. 

Gravitation,  then,  is  nothing  more,  nor  less,  than 
terrestrial  magnetism,  produced,  as  all  magnetism  is 
produced,  by  electricity,  and  that  electricity,  stream- 
ing down  from  the  source  of  all  electricity,  the  sun. 
Before  this  theory,  every  difficulty  which  surrounds 
the  subject  of  gravitation,  vanishes  at  once.  The 
phenomena  of  bodies  gravitating  towards  the  earth 
can  be  thus  accounted  for  by  the  operation  of  known, 
and  acknowledged,  and  tested  scientific  laws.  The 
earth  is,  in  fact,  a  magnet — exhibiting  all  the  proper- 
ties of  a  magnet — attracting  the  needle  to  the  pole 
like  a  magnet — drawing  bodies  to  itself  with  a  force 
precisely  conformable  to  the  attractive  force  or  in- 
fluence of  a  magnet,  is  made  a  magnet  by  elec- 


200  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

tricity — and  that  electricity  is  the  light  and  caloric 
that  stream  from  the  sun.  The  attraction  of  gravita- 
tion, then,  is  the  attraction  of  terrestrial  magnetism. 

It  has  been  the  current  opinion,  among  the  mass 
of  the  community,  and  even  among  scholars,  that  ev- 
ery thing  is  attracted  towards  the  centre  of  the  earth, 
as  though  that  possessed  some  mysterious,  unaccount- 
able power  of  attraction  over  substances,  (somewhat 
akin  to  the  unphilosophical  opinion,  that  the  north 
pole  star  guides  the  needle  of  the  compass,)  and  that 
it  increased  all  the  way  to  that  centre.  But  such  is, 
by  no  means  the  case.  The  attraction  of  gravitation, 
instead  of  being  the  greatest  at  the  centre,  is  the 
greatest  at  ike  surface  of  the  earth. 

Were  it  possible,  for  instance,  to  perforate  through 
the  earth,  exactly  at  the  magnetic  centre,  instead  of 
the  geographic,  a  substance,  which  might  weigh  hun- 
dreds of  tons  at  the  surface,  would  weigh  just  nothing 
at  all  at  the  centre.  It  would  be  suspended  there, 
were  the  space  large  enough,  without  any  apparent 
support,  like  a  light  needle,  when  suspended  within  a 
helix,  or  coil  of  insulated  copper  wire,  while  passing 
a  current  of  galvanism  around  it.  And  why  would 
this  be  the  case  ?  Because  the  electrical  or  magnetic 
attraction  would  be  equal  on  all  sides  of  the  centre 
of  the  earth,  and,  therefore,  a  substance,  which  would 
weigh  several  tons  at  the  surface,  would  there  be  per- 
fectly balanced,  without  support,  and  would,  in  that 
position,  weigh  just  nothing  at  all,  since  all  weight  de- 
pends upon  attraction,  and  that  weight  is  exactly  pro- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  201 

portional  to  the  attraction.  As  the  power  of  the  at- 
traction is  equal  on  all  sides  of  the  centre  of  the 
earth,  and,  as  attraction  one  way,  without  a  corres- 
ponding attraction  the  other,  causes  all  weight,  there- 
fore, a  substance  at  this  centre,  must  weigh  nothing, 
because  the  attraction  being  in  all  directions  equal, 
must  be  neutralized. 

The  attraction  of  gravitation,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  attraction  of  terrestrial  magnetism)  which  is  the 
same  thing  precisely,  is  the  greatest  at  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  It  may  be  asked,  then, — "  Why  do  all  fall- 
ing bodies,  fall  toward  the  centre  ?  "  Simply  because 
the  radiations  of  magnetism  obey  the  same  law,  pre- 
cisely, as  the  radiations  of  light.  The  lines  of  these 
radii  if  continued  on  within  the  surface,  or  through 
the  earth,  from  one  side  to  the  other,  would  intersect 
the  centre,  and  the  attractions  of  the  surface  are,  there- 
fore, directly  toward  the  centre. 

From  the  fact  that  the  radiations  of  magnetism, 
obey  the  law  of  the  radiations  of  solar  light,  and  all 
other  light, —  that  is,  from  the  fact  that  the  divergence 
of  the  radiations  of  magnetism  is  in  the  exact  pro- 
portion of  the  squares  of  the  distance,  the  same  as 
the  divergence  of  light,  gravitation,  therefore,  at- 
tracts all  bodies  around  it,  in  proportion  to  the  squares 
of  the  distance  of  those  bodies.  So  that  the  organic 
laws  of  magnetism,  light  and  gravitation  are  the 
same,  and,  like  laws  produce  like  effects  as  well  as 
like  causes. 
10 


202  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT  AND    HEAT. 

Before  dismissing  the  interesting  subject  of  gravi- 
tation, we  would  express  our  belief,  that  it  is  a  prop- 
osition capable  of  demonstration,  that  an  increase  of 
the  material  of  the  earth,  would  increase  its  attraction 
in  precisely  the  ratio  of  the  increase  of  the  attraction 
of  the  magnet,  by  the  increase  of  its  material.  Were 
the  material  of  the  earth  doubled,  for  instance,  its  at- 
traction would  be  quadrupled,  precisely  in  accordance  • 
with  the  law  of  the  divergence  of  light,  or  the  radia- 
tions of  electricity.  Consequently  the  weight  of  all 
bodies  upon  its  surface,  of  the  same  bulk  and  densi- 
ty, would,  in  such  a  supposed  contingency,  be  quad- 
rupled in  accordance  with  an  immutable  law. 

Now,  from  all  that  has  been  said,  does  it  not  ap- 
pear perfectly  evident,  that  gravitation  has  a  cause,  as 
definite  and  as  easily  explained,  as  magnetism  ;  which 
cause  is  precisely  the  same.  The  great  magnet  of 
Professor  Henry,  for  instance,  to  which  we  have  al- 
ready alluded,  would,  when  fully  charged  with  the 
galvanic  current,  neutralize  all  the  power  of  the  earth's 
gravitation,  and  make  a  body  gravitate  upwards  from 
the  earth,  with  a  power  equal  to  two  or  three  tons. — 
And  why  ?  Simply  because  a  vast  volume  of  elec- 
tricity was  accumulated  there  in  a  small  compass,  by 
means  of  the  insulated  copper  wires,  around  which 
the  galvanic  fluid  circulated.  Electricity  or  light, 
then,  we  can  legitimately  conclude,  is  the  cause  of 
gravitation. 


LECTURE     X. 

THE  CAUSES  OF  MAGNETIC  ATTRACTION,  THE  AURORAE,  GRAV- 
ITATION, COHESION,  AND  THE  MOTION  OF  PLANETS  DEMON- 
STRATED BY  A  VARIETY  OF  ARGUMENTS,  TO  BE  ELECTRIC 
AND  IDENTICAL. 

The  attraction  of  cohesion  has  the  same  cause,  as 
the  attraction  of  gravitation.  They  are  both  doubt- 
less, produced  by  that  electric  cause,  the  light  and  ca- 
loric of  the  sun.  The  one  is  the  attraction  between 
large  masses,  and  the  other  between  the  component 
particles  of  those  masses,  the  one  attracts  at  great 
distances,  and  the  other  at  insensible  distances — their 
attractions  are,  therefore,  the  same  in  essence,  though 
not  in  volume  or  degree.  What  holds  the  armature 
of  Henry's  large  magnet,  when  charged,  but  the  sim- 
ple power  of  cohesive  attraction  between  the  particles 
of  the  iron,  which  composes  the  material  of  the  mag- 
net and  armature,  which  cohesive  power  is  caused  by 
electricity  ?  We  believe  it  is  nothing  else.  The 
same  power,  precisely,  holds  the  particles  of  all  bodies 
together,  and  that  power  of  cohesive  attraction  varies 
often  as  the  amount  of  latent  caloric  varies.  Ab- 
stract the  latent  caloric  of  iron,  for  instance,  by  in- 
tense cold,  or  by  any  other  cause,  and  you,  in  a  pro- 
portionable degree,  destroy  its  cohesive  attraction,  and 


204  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

make  it  brittle.  JThis  is  proven  by  the  ease  with 
which  iron  is  fractured,  in  the  intense  cold  of  the  win- 
ter. 

By  hammering  iron  when  cold,  or  by  rolling  it  in  a 
rolling  mill,  it  will  also  become  brittle.  And  why  ? 
Because  the  caloric,  which  constitutes  cohesive  attrac- 
tion, is  pressed  out  upon  the  surface,  by  closing  the 
pores.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  caloric  accu- 
mulates upon  the  surface,  in  proportion  as  the  pores 
of  the  iron  are  contracted  by  the  rolling  mill  or  the 
hammer,  which  drive  out  the  latent  caloric. 

The  various  phenomena  of  capillary  attraction  can 
be  referred  to  the  same  cause,  as  cohesion  —  to  the 
caloric,  that  electrifies  all  substances  under  its  influ- 
ence. The  tallow  that  composes  the  candle,  for  in- 
stance, is  drawn  up  into  the  wick,  during  combustion, 
by  capillary  attraction,  and  that  attraction  is  caused 
by  the  caloric  set  free  during  ignition. 

We  are  well  aware  that  many  objections  to  the  va- 
lidity of  our  positions  can  be  started  by  fruitful  imag- 
inations, which  may  appear  plausible  and  seem  to  con- 
flict with  the  conclusions  which  we  have  drawn,  but 
which  must  be  deceptive,  since  the  laws  of  nature  do 
not  clash,  and,  if  some  of  the  reasons,  and  the  modes 
of  her  operations  are  beyond  the  ken  of  the  acutest 
and  most  penetrating  scrutiny,  it  amounts  to  no  con- 
clusive proof  that  we  are  incorrect.  The  question  is 
simply  this.  Have  our  deductions  appeared  rational, 
and  in  accordance  with  known  and  tested  laws,  and 
have  they  been  amply  sustained  by  an  accumulation 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      205 

of  appropriate  facts  ?  If  so,  we  are  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  explain  mysteries  in  the  essential  attributes  of 
an  agent,  while  we  are  attempting  to  trace  merely  the 
effects  of  that  agent,  for  most  of  those  objections, 
which  are  or  may  be  started,  will  be  found,  upon  close 
scrutiny,  to  relate  to  essence  rather  than  to  the  "  mo- 
dus  operandi  "  of  that  essence. 

Such  questions  as  these,  for  instance,  may  be  asked 
by  the  caviling  objector.  If  caloric  be  the  cause  of 
cohesive  attraction,  why  will  its  accumulation  entirely 
destroy  cohesive  attraction,  as  in  the  instance  of  all 
melted  metals?  Or,  if  caloric  be  electricity,  and,  if 
electricity  be  magnetism,  why  does  not  its  accumula- 
tion around  the  large  galvanic  magnet,  make  that  large 
magnet  hot  ?  Or,  why  will  this  agent,  under  one  set 
of  circumstances,  produce  an  effect,  and  under  anoth- 
er, destroy  that  same  effect  it  produces,  if  "  like  causes 
produce  like  effects  1 "  These,  and  a  thousand  other 
questions,  might  be  proposed  by  the  objector,  which 
are  more  easily  asked  than  answered. 

But,  to  show  that  they  relate  to  essence,  we  will 
ask  some  questions  equally  puzzling,  about  electricity, 
where  there  can  be  no  mistake  about  the  identity  of 
the  agent.  Why  will  the  very  same  current  of  gal- 
vanism produce  both  an  acid  and  an  alkaline  taste? 
Why  will  electricity,  under  one  set  of  circumstances, 
make  a  magnet,  and  why,  under  other  circumstances, 
will  it  destroy  that  same  magnet.  It  will  be  readily 
perceived,  that  it  is  much  easier  to  ask  questions 
than  to  answer  them,  and  that  such  questions  refer 


206  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AN£>    HEAT. 

rather  to  an  explanation  of  essence  than  of  effect. 
That  essence  of  electricity,  we  never  attempted,  nor 
have  we  ever  proposed,  to  explain.  It  is  a  wonderful 
agent,  and  as  mysterious  as  it  is  wonderful.  Its  ef- 
fects are  varied  by  countless  myriads  of  modifications, 
and  these  effects,  we  investigate,  rather  than  the  in- 
scrutable reasons,  why  those  modifications  should  be 
so  multitudinous,  and  why  they  should,  in  some  cases, 
appear  to  clash. 

To  show  that  we  stand  not  alone  in  the  advocacy 
of  the  opinion,  that  cohesive  and  capillary  attraction 
are  produced  by  caloric  or  electricity,  we  will  quote 
from  Metcalf 's  "  New  Theory  of  Terrestrial  Magnet- 
ism." Speaking  of  caloric,  he  says  : — "  It  seems  to 
be  a  general  law  of  this  subtle  element,  that  it  repels 
its  own  particles,  and  is  attracted,  though  unequally, 
by  all  other  matter,  with  an  increased  ratio,  as  th«< 
squares  of  the  distance  diminish.* 

"  From  which  it  follows,  that  when  caloric  is  with- 
drawn from  a  body,  that  body  has  a  stronger  affinity 
for  caloric,  than  one  which  is  filled  with  it ;  and  two 
bodies  charged  with  caloric,  one  plus  and  the  other 
minus,  will  attract  each  other  with  a  force  propor- 
tioned to  the  different  quantities  of  caloric  which  they 
contain,  and  to  the  rapidity  of  its  conduction  from 
one  to  the  other. 

"  An  experiment,  which  I  inadvertently  made  when 
a  child,  strikingly  illustrates  this  principle.  On  the 

*  We  do  not  believe  in  the  above  proportion,  so  far  as  reciprocal  at- 
traction is  concerned.  This  would,  as  we  have  elsewhere  shown,  de- 
stroy the  "  vis  inertias  "  of  ponderable  matter. 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      207 

morning  of  "  cold  Friday/'  as  it  was  called  through 
the  Western  country,  I  applied  my  tongue  to  a  plate 
of  cold  iron,  while  the  mercury  was  about  15  degrees 
below  zero,  when  it  adhered  with  such  force  that  the 
skin  was  removed  on  separating  it.  Captain  Scoresby 
relates,  that  frequently  such  was  the  intensity  of  cold 
in  the  Arctic  seas,  that  the  hands  of  the  sailors  ad- 
hered fast  to  whatever  metals  they  touched. 

"  In  such  cases  the  temperature  of  the  living  body 
is  from  115  to  140  degrees  higher  than  that  of  the 
metals : — in  other  words,  the  living  body  is  charged 
plus,  while  they  are  minus;  and  the  attraction  con- 
tinues until  the  equilibrium  is  restored,  when  it  ceases. 

"  The  same  attraction  takes  place,  when  the  hand 
is  applied  to  metals  heated  greatly  above  the  temper- 
ature of  the  living  body ;  and  for  the  same  reason, 
one  of  the  two  bodies  being  charged  plus  and  the 
other  minus. 

"  When  the  temperature  of  metals  is  greatly  re- 
duced, they  become  brittle,  so  that  a  slight  blow  will 
fracture  them  ;  the  same  effect  is  produced  on  iron  by 
hammering,  which  presses  out,  and  expels  from  it, 
that  portion  of  caloric,  which  is  necessary  to  its  cohe- 
sion and  malleability.  Hence  it  follows,  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  caloric  between  the  particles  of  mat- 
ter is  requisite  to  maintain  their  cohesion;  but  when 
the  amount  of  caloric  is  increased  beyond  a  certain 
extent,  it  separates  the  particles,  and  thus  diminishes, 
or  overcomes,  the  power  of  cohesion. 

"  A  great  variety  of  facts  may  be  adduced,  to  show, 


208  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

that  capillary  attraction)  is  owing  to  the  operation  of 
the  same  law.  For  example  ;  if  a  piece  of  sugar  be 
put  into  a  glass  of  water,  a  portion  of  the  caloric  of 
fluidity  leaves  the  water,  enters  among  the  particles  of 
sugar,  and  diffuses  itself  equally  throughout  the  whole. 
During  this  absorption  of  caloric  by  the  sugar,  the 
temperature  of  the  resulting  mixture  is  somewhat  re- 
duced, Droving  that,  in  relation  to  the  water,  the  su- 
gar is  minus  or  negative,  and  the  water  is  plus  or  pos- 
itive. 

"  If  the  piece  of  sugar  be  cut  into  a  cylindrical 
form,  of  one  or  two  inches  in  diameter  and  five  or  six 
inches  long,  and  one  end  of  it  only  be  inserted  into  a 
glass  of  water,  the  caloric  of  the  positive  fluid  being 
strongly  attracted  by  the  negative  sugar,  pervades  it 
rapidly  throughout,  until  the  equilibrium  is  restored, 
when  the  entire  mass  is  dissolved. 

"  M.  Lehot  found  by  experiment,  that  under  the 
same  pressure,  water  rises  higher  in  vertical  capillary 
tubes,  as  its  temperature  is  elevated.  (Bibl.  Univers. 
Mars.  1820,  p.  225.) 

"  The  phenomena  of  a  burning  candle  illustrate 
the  agency  of  caloric  in  producing  capillary  attraction 
in  a  very  striking  manner.  The  wick  is  ignited,  the 
tallow  rendered  fluid,  and  attracted  by  caloric  so  as 
to  furnish  a  continual  supply  of  combustible  matter 
to  the  wick,  which  is  decomposed  and  expanded  into 
flame  or  light.  The  force  and  rapidity  of  capillary 
attraction,  all  other  things  being  equal,  are  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  heat  given  out  in  the  wick. 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  209 

"  Capillary  and  cohesive  attractions  are  only  modi- 
fied effects  of  the  same  cause.  It  is  the  attraction  of 
caloric  for  the  particles  of  water,  that  holds  them  to- 
gether ;  that  gives  its  drops  their  globular  form  ;  as  it 
is  the  attraction  of  caloric  for  porous  solids,  arid  ca- 
pillary tubes,  that  raises  the  water  above  its  ordinary 
level." 

If  light  and  caloric  then  be  electricity,  and  the  sun 
be  the  sole  fountain,  from  which  it  issues,  as  we  have 
attempted,  in  previous  lectures,  to  demonstrate,  then 
its  influences  over  the  planets,  that  revolve  around  it, 
must  also  be  an  electric  influence.  If  their  motions 
are  produced  by  the  influence  of  the  sun,  then,  those 
motions  must  be  governed  by  the  laws  which  govern 
the  electric  agent. 

We  approach  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  with 
the  feeling,  that  it  is  the  most  important,  as  well  as 
the  most  interesting  of  any  contained  in  the  whole 
series  of  lectures.  If  we  shall  demonstrate,  that  the 
revolutions  of  all  the  planets,  both  diurnal  and  annual, 
can  be  philosophically  accounted  for,  in  accordance 
with  those  organic  laws  of  electricity,  which  have  been, 
and  may  be  ascertained  definitely,  in  the  laboratory, 
in  their  action  upon  pith  balls  or  electrometers,  then 
will  our  opinions  upon  this  subject  be  triumphantly 
sustained  beyond  the  influence  of  cavil,  and  their 
correctness  incontrovertibly  proven.  But,  if  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  demonstrate  such  an  identity,  then  will 
it  appear  conclusive,  that  we  have  been  indulging  in 
10* 


210      PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT, 

philosophical  dreams,  or  baseless  chimeras  of  the 
brain. 

What  then  are  the  forces,  which  electricity  exerts 
over  pith  balls  ?  They  are  two,  which,  as  we  have, 
heretofore,  abundantly  shown,  have  their  basis  in  the 
inherent  organic  laws  of  this  agent,  and  depend  al- 
ways, for  their  development,  upon  a  plus  and  minus. 

And  what  are  the  two  forces,  which  have  ever  been 
supposed  to  govern  the  motions  of  the  planets  ?  Why 
they  are,  what  philosophers  have  denominated,  cen- 
trifugal and  centripetal  forces.  The  meaning  of  the 
one  is,  a  tendency  to  fly  from  a  centre,  and  that  of 
the  other,  a  disposition  to  seek  the  centre.  Now  these 
terms  are,  as  any  one  must  see,  exactly  equivalent  to 
attraction  and  repulsion.  Centrifugal  is  repulsion 
and  centripetal  is  attraction.  So  then,  we  find,  that 
we  have  to  bring  to  our  aid  no  new  forces,  if  we  adopt 
the  hypothesis,  that  the  influence  of  the  sunlight  upon 
the  solar  system,  is  electric,  since  its  two  organic  for- 
ces, correspond  exactly  to  the  centrifugal  and  centri- 
petal, of  all  standard  works. 

How  then  is  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  earth,  for 
instance,  produced  upon  this  hypothesis,  taking  the 
movements  of  this  globe  for  example,  since  they  are 
more  familliar  than  those  of  any  other  planet.  Why, 
simply  in  this  manner.  The  sun  illuminates  one  half 
of  the  surface  of  the  globe,  while  the  other  half  is  in 
darkness.  That  hemisphere,  which  is  in  darkness,  is 
relatively  minus,  when  compared  with  that  which  is 
illuminated,  and  so,  vice  versa,  that  hemisphere  which 
is  under  the  direct  influence  of  the  radiance  of  the  sun, 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      2]  1 

is  relatively  plus,  while  the  other  is  minus.  The  plus 
of  the  one  side  will  increase  from  morning  until  sun- 
down, and  the  minus  of  the  other  from  sundown  un- 
til morning.  This  is  in  accordance  with  that  tested 
fact,  that,  if  any  substance  be  exposed  to  an  electri- 
fying cause,  it  becomes  plus,  and  the  longer  it  is  ex- 
posed to  that  cause,  the  more  highly  plus  it  becomes, 
and  so,  on  the  contrary,  if  any  substance  be  removed 
from  the  electrifying  influence,  it  becomes  minus,  and 
the  longer  it  is  removed,  the  more  deeply  minus  it  be- 
comes. Now,  what  is  the  legitimate  result  of  such  a 
condition  of  the  earth  ?  That  part  of  the  earth,  which 
has  been  longest  in  the  sun's  rays,  has  come,  as  we 
have  said,  to  a  highly  plus  or  positive  state — that  is, 
it  has  come  to  that  state,  in  which,  throughout  the 
torrid  regions  and  part  of  the  temperate,  there  must 
be  an  outward  emanation,  which  constitutes  a  plus  or 
positive,  since  any  substance,  exposed,  for  any  length 
of  time  to  an  electrifying  cause,  must  become  positive. 
By  an  immutable  law  of  electricity,  two  positives 
repel.  Therefore,  that  part  of  the  earth,  which  has 
been  longest  in  the  sun's  rays,  having  come  to  a  posi- 
tive condition,  is  repelled  by  the  positive  sun.  But 
that  part  which  has  been  the  longest  removed  from 
the  direct  influence  of  the  electrifying  cause,  and  has, 
therefore,  come  to  a  deeply  negative  condition,  would 
of  course,  be  attracted  by  the  positive  sun,  since  a 
positive  and  negative  always  attract.  If  this  were  the 
true  principle  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its 
axis,  the  plus  part  of  the  earth  must  be  always  rolling 


212  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

away  from  the  sun,  while  the  minus  part  must  al- 
ways be  moving  towards  it,  from  the  fact,  that  two  pos- 
itives always  repel,  and  a  positive  and  a  negative  al- 
ways attract.  And  this  is  the  case,  not  with  the 
earth  only,  but  with  all  the  planets,  which  compose 
the  solar  system.  That  part  of  all  of  them,  which 
has  been  longest  in  the  sun's  rays,  is  always  rolling 
away  from  him,  while  that  part,  which  has  been  long- 
est out  of  his  rays,  is  always  rolling  towards  him.  In 
producing  the  rotary  motion  of  the  earth,  then,  upon 
its  axis,  it  is  evident  that  the  sun  exerts  two  forces 
upon  it,  the  one  of  attraction  and  the  other  of  repul- 
sion, which  would  cause  its  diurnal  revolution,  since, 
if  you  strike  a  ball  on  each  side  with  equal  force,  and 
in  opposite  directions,  you  give  it  the  rolling  motion. 

The  earth,  then,  revolves  on  its  axis  daily,  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  two  forces  of  attraction  and  repulsion, 
exerted  over  it  by  the  sun,  and  those  are  precisely  an- 
alogous in  every  respect,  to  those  of  electricity. 

If  this  be  not  the  precise  influence  which  the  sun 
exerts  over  the  earth,  in  the  production  of  its  diurnal 
motion,  what  is  that  influence  ?  It  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged that  the  sun  governs  all  the  motions  of 
the  earth.  But,  while  such  an  acknowledgment  has 
been  made,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  clear  or  well 
defined  idea,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  made 
such  an  acknowledgment,  as  to  what  constitutes  that 
ruling  power.  They  have  almost  universally  taken 
it  for  a  conceded  proposition,  that  such  a  ruling  pow- 
er of  nature  controls  the  movements  of  this  globe  of 


PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT.      213 

ours,  but  how  it  exerts  such  a  control,  they  seem  scarce- 
ly to  have  taken  the  trouble  to  enquire. 

But,  if  the  sun  governs  the  motions  of  the  earth,  it 
governs  those  motions  in  accordance  with  uniform, 
well-defined  and  immutable  laws.  Now,  if  any  one 
affirm  that  the  sun  controls  the  movements  of  the 
earth,  he  is  bound  to  explain  the  principles  of  that 
government.  If  he  cannot,  how  does  he  know  that 
there  is  any  such  government  at  all.  He  has  no  right 
to  assert  that  one  thing  is  governed  by  another,  with- 
out he  can  give  some  definite  reason,  or  reasons,  why 
he  draws  such  a  conclusion.  Nor  has  he  any  right  to 
object  to  conclusions,  which  others  have  drawn  from 
well  defined  premises,  and  deductions  founded  in  reas- 
on, and  sustained  by  well  attested  facts. 

We,  for  instance,  have  assumed  the  proposition  to 
be  true,  and  have  endeavored  to  prove  it,  that  electric- 
ity is  the  cause  of  all  attraction  and  repulsion,  upon 
both  a  large  and  small  scale,  and,  consequently,  of  all 
motion  among  spheres,  as  well  as  atoms,  and  that  the 
sun  is  the  fountain  whence  it  originates.  As  part  of 
a  connected  chain  of  antecedents  and  consequents,  or 
of  causes  and  effects,  we  have  drawn  the  legitimate 
conclusion,  from  the  practical  results  of  this  theory, 
that  the  sun  governs  the  earth  and  the  other  planets 
of  the  solar  system  by  an  electric  influence.  That  in- 
fluence has  been  tested  in  the  laboratory  upon  pith 
balls,  and  is,  therefore,  acknowledged  by  all,  who  pre- 
tend to  any  very  extensive  attainments  in  science. 

Now  we  have  shown  that  the  diurnal  motion  of  the 


214  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

earth  can  be  produced  by  the  streams  of  electrifying 
sun-light,  precisely  in  accordance  with  those  known 
and  tested  and  universally  acknowledged  electric  in- 
fluences, which  are  of  every  day  occurrence,  and  are 
familiar  to  every  school  boy.  And  if  objections  be 
urged  against  such  conclusions,  those  who  urge  them 
ought,  certainly,  to  be  prepared  to  explain  the  laws  by 
which  the  sun  governs  the  earth,  more  satisfactorily 
and  plausibly,  or  else  forever  hold  their  peace,  and  ac- 
knowledge their  incompetency  to  do  it ;  for  the  old 
stereotyped  method  of  explanation,  by  referring  the 
whole  to  the  influence  of  the  centrifugal  and  centri- 
petal forces,  without  explaining  how  those  two  forces 
are  produced,  will  not  answer — -will  satisfy  no  en- 
quiring mind. 

Feeling  the  force  of  the  deductions  which  we  have 
drawn,  and  seeing  the  impossibility  of  denying  our 
conclusions,  if  our  premises  be  correct,  some  may  be 
roused  by  the  impulse  of  their  alarmed  prepossessions, 
to  attack  some  of  those  premises.  They  may  deny 
that  the  earth  becomes  minus  during  the  night,  and, 
therefore,  infer  that  there  are  no  two  forces  of  the  kind 
we  have  mentioned.  But  such  cannot  have  investi- 
gated the  subject  at  all.  The  earth  is  a  rapid  radia- 
tor of  caloric,  and,  therefore,  when  the  cause  of  it  is 
removed,  it  rapidly  dissipates.  The  consequence  is, 
that,  although  the  emanations  of  caloric  are  outward 
from  the  earth  during  the  day,  especially  in  the  torrid 
zone,  they  are  inward  from  the  atmosphere  to  the 
earth  at  night,  as  is  proven  by  the  deposits  of  dew,  for 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  215 

these  deposits  result  from  the  abstractions,  by  the  mi- 
nus earth,  of  the  caloric  of  the  vapor,  which  was  gen- 
erated in  the  day  time,  and  rose  from  the  earth  by  the 
force  of  emanating  or  plus  caloric.  The  passage  of 
caloric  is,  therefore,  into  the  earth  at  night,  from  the 
surrounding  atmosphere,  and  of  course,  presents  its 
minus  polarities,  as  all  inward  currents  do.  This  ob- 
jection falls,  therefore,  to  the  ground,  for  the  want  of 
the  shadow  of  a  support,  and  so  would  every  other 
objection,  we  believe,  because  our  explanation  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth  is  in  accor- 
dance with  the  immutable  laws  of  nature. 

As  we  have  already  remarked,  all  the  other  prima- 
ry planets  obey  the  same  laws  precisely,  or  are  gov- 
erned by  the  same  influences,  in  their  rotary  motions 
upon  their  axis,  as  the  earth. 

An  objection  may,  however,  be  urged  against  this 
conclusion,  from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  uniformity 
in  the  diurnal  revolution  of  those,  whose  motions  have 
been  ascertained  with  certainty,  since  Venus  turns  on 
her  axis  in  twenty-three  hours  and  twenty  minutes, 
the  Earth  in  twenty-three  hours  and  fifty-six  minutes, 
Mars  in  twenty-four  hours  and  thirty-nine  minutes, 
Jupiter  in  nine  hours  and  lifty-five  minutes,  and  Sat- 
urn in  ten  hours  and  sixteen  minutes. 

Now,  why  is  there  so  much  dissimilarity  in  the  rev- 
olution of  these  planets,  if  there  be  a  common  cause 
for  it,  and  if  the  laws  which  govern  that  common 
cause  are  invariable  ?  It  must  be  owing  to  the  differ- 
ent materials  which  compose  them,  to  their  different 


216      PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

powers  of  radiating  caloric,  to  their  different  distan- 
ces from  the  sun,  and  also,  doubtless,  to  their  bulk. — 
Venus  is  some  twenty-eight  millions  of  miles  nearer 
to  the  sun  than  this  earth,  and  its  day  is  thirty-six 
minutes  longer  than  ours.  Upon  the  supposition  that 
the  power  or  capability  of  each  planet  to  radiate  ca- 
loric decreases  in  exact  proportion  as  the  squares  of 
the  distance  from  the  sun  increase,  about  which  we 
shall  soon  remark  more  at  large,  then  the  revolutions 
of  each  primary  planet  would  be  regulated  in  exact 
proportion  to  bulk  and  distance. 

The  difference  between  the  relative  distances  from 
the  sun  of  the  Earth  and  Mars,  is  forty-eight  millions 
of  miles,  and  the  difference  between  the  time  of  their 
revolutions  is  forty-three  minutes.  Now,  if  we  take 
those  three  planets,  Venus,  the  Earth  and  Mars  for 
data,  whereupon  to  make  our  calculations,  we  can  de- 
termine, with  mathematical  certainty,  whether  any 
other  causes  than  mere  bulk  and  distance,  influence 
the  rapidity  of  their  revolutions. 

The  difference  between  the  bulk  of  Venus  and  the 
Earth,  in  diameter,  is  two  hundred  and  forty  miles, 
between  their  distances  from  the  sun  is  twenty-eight 
millions  of  miles,  and  between  the  time  of  their  rev- 
olution, or  the  length  of  their  day,  is  thirty-nine  min- 
utes, while  the  difference  between  the  bulk  of  the 
Earth  and  Mars,  the  next  planet,  is  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  thirty-nine  miles,  between  their' 
distances,  is  forty-eight  millions  of  miles,  and  their 
time  forty-three  minutes.  Into  this  account  is  to  be 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT.  217 

taken,  the  bulk  and  influences  of  the  Moon,  which 
the  Earth  carries  along  with  it. 

Without  having  space  to  enter  into  all  the  minutia 
of  a  mathematical  calculation  in  the  present  connec- 
tion, it  is  our  impression  that,  with  these  data  before 
us,  it  can  be  perfectly  demonstrated,  that  the  rapidity 
of  diurnal  revolution  depends  alone  upon  bulk  and 
distance  from  the  sun  combined. 

This  accounts  satisfactorily  for  the  reason  why  Ju- 
piter and  Saturn  revolve  upon  their  axes  in  less  than 
half  the  time  of  the  revolution  of  our  earth,  although 
the  one  be  three  hundred  and  ninety-five  millions  of 
miles  further  from  the  sun  than  the  earth,  and  the 
other  eight  hundred  and  five  millions  further;  —  for 
Jupiter  has  a  diameter  about  twelve  times  as  great  as 
our  earth,  making  its  bulk  more  than  a  thousand  times 
greater  than  this  planet,  besides  carrying  with  it  four 
large  moons,  and  Saturn,  exclusive  of  the  weight  of 
his  enormous  rings  and  seven  moons,  is  nearly  six 
hundred  times  larger  than  the  Earth.  They  may 
therefore,  in  exact  accordance  with  our  data,  both  per- 
form their  diurnal  revolutions  in  less  than  half  the 
time  of  our  earth. 

Having  come,  by  our  deductions,  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  rapidity  of  revolution  depends  upon  the  bulk 
of  the  planets,  and  their  relative  distances  from  the 
sun,  we  would  here  remark,  that,  if  the  power  or  ca- 
pability of  the  planets  to  radiate  caloric,  decreases, 
according  to  the  squares  of  their  distance  from  the 
great  centre  of  the  system,  then,  there  is  a  definite 


218      PROPERTIES  OF  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

• 

cause  why  they  all  occupy  just  the  position  they  do. 
Were  this  the  case,  they  could  come  no  nearer  to  the 
sun  than  they  now  do.  nor  could  they  remove  farther 
away  from  it,  but  must  remain  just  in  the  position 
they  do  at  present,  and  have  done  since  creation,  so 
long  as  their  material  remains  the  same,  or  they  have 
the  same  power  of  retaining  or  radiating  caloric. 

For,  if  they  should  come  any  nearer,  it  is  evident 
that  they  must  become  plus,  and  so  be  driven  back, 
by  the  repulsion  of  two  positives.  And,  if  they  should 
recede,  farther  from  the  centre,  they  would  become 
minus,  and  so  be  drawn  to  the  position,  whence  they 
started  by  the  attraction  of  a  positive  and  negative. 
It  is  perfectly  evident,  then,  that  the  planets  are  com- 
pletely balanced  in  their  orbits.  They  can  neither 
fly  away  from  them,  nor  can  they  be  drawn  into  the 
sun,  for  the  agent,  that  rules  them,  and  governs  all 
their  motions,  holds  them  just  where  they  are,  with 
bonds  which  cannot  be  broken,  until  the  final  "  wreck 
of  matter,  and  the  crash  of  worlds."  Owing  to  this 
cause  alone,  the  earth  approaches  the  sun,  in  one  part 
of  its  orbit,  and  is  driven  back  in  the  other,  the  two 
forces,  keeping  it  balanced  in  strict  accordance  with 
that  law  of  caloric,  which  has  a  tendency  to  keep  up 
an  equilibrium  throughout  nature. 

Having  accounted,  rationally,  for  the  revolutions  of 
the  planets  upon  their  axes,  upon  the  principles  of 
electrical  attraction  and  repulsion,  how  shall  we  ac- 
count now,  for  their  annual  revolutions  around  the 
sun.  This,  we  confess,  is  a  subject  much  more  ab- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT     AND    HEAT.  219 

struse,  and  the  problem  is  much  more  difficult  to 
solve.  But  yet,  we  believe  that  it  is  capable  of  being 
satisfactorily  solved,  in  accordance  with  the  very  same 
electrical  principles,  which  we  have  already  fully  ex- 
plained and  tested. 

But  before  we  proceed  to  do  this,  it  is  necessary 
for  us  to  state  a  few  facts,  which  will  aid  materially 
in  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

Not  only  do  all  the  planets  revolve  one  way  upon 
their  axes,  but  they  all  move  in  one  direction  around 
the  sun.  Their  motions,  also,  decrease  in  regular 
proportions  and  gradations,  as  they  recede  from  the 
sun.  Mercury,  for  instance,  moves  in  her  orbit  one 
hundred  and  eleven  thousand  and  ninety  miles  per 
hour — Venus  eighty-one  thousand — the  Earth  sixty- 
eight  thousand — Mars  fifty-six  thousand — Jupiter 
twenty  thousand — oaturn,  according  to  Ferguson, 
eighteen  thousand,  and  Herschel  fifteen  thousand. 

It  will  be  seen  that  their  movements  are  regulated 
by  distance  from  the  sun,  combined  with  bulk,  and, 
we  believe  it  to  be  a  proposition  capable  of  absolute 
demonstration,  that  the  decrease  of  the  motion  of  all 
the  planets  in  their  several  orbits,  would  be  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  squares  of  their  distances  from  the 
sun,  if  they  were  all  of  the  same  bulk  and  density 
exactly,  taking  the  present  ratio  of  their  movements, 
as  correct  data  from  which  to  draw  conclusions. 

Now,  then,  for  the  explanation  of  the  annual  revo- 
lutions of  the  planets.  The  sun  seems  to  turn  on  its 
axis  once  in  twenty-five  days.  That  may  be  nothing 


2*20  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT   AND    HEAT. 

but  a  seeming  revolution,  owing  to  the  movement  of 
its  emanations  in  vast  orbits  as  we  have  before  re- 
marked, and  which  would  convey  that  impression  to 
an  observer  upon  the  globe ;  but  it  may  be  real.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  all  the  planets  move  the  same  way  that 
the  sun  seems  to  revolve,  and  therefore,  the  same  way 
that  its  emanations  move  in  their  orbits. 

Now  by  the  influence  of  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
moving  with  lightning  speed  in  their  orbital  course, 
must  the  planets  be  all  moved  in  one  direction,  since 
all  their  movements,  both  diurnal  and  annual,  are 
governed  entirely  by  the  emanations  of  the  sun,  as 
we  have  seen.  This  is,  doubtless,  effected  by  the 
amazing  influence,  which,  as  we  have  upon  a  small 
scale,  demonstrated,  that  opposite  polarities  have  up- 
on each  other,  in  inducing  the  particles  of  the  elec- 
tric stream  to  follow  each  other,  and  to  move  with 
them  either  atoms  or  masses  of  ponderable  matter. 

"  But  why,"  it  may  be  asked,  "  does  not  this  ten- 
dency of  electricity  to  control  both  atoms  and  masses 
of  ponderable  matter,  drag  them  outward,  exactly  in 
the  line  of  the  course  of  its  orbital  movements  ?" 
Because,  as  we  have  seen,  if  they  were  moved  out- 
ward from  their  present  position,  they  must  become 
immediately  minus,  and  be  drawn  back  by  the  posi- 
tive sun.  Besides,  were  not  this  the  case,  the  inward 
passage  of  the  electric  rays,  in  their  return,  as  we 
have  before  explained,  to  their  source,  the  sun,  being 
with  a  lightning  speed,  as  rapid  as  their  outward  em- 
anation, may  have  a  tendency,  somehow,  to  neutral- 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 

ize  the  tangential  force,  and,  at  the  same  time,  aid  in 
the  propulsion  of  the  planets  in  their  orbits,  as  the 
propelling  force,  if  they  have  any,  would  be  in  the 
right  direction. 

The  eccentric  movements  of  the  comets  are  pro- 
duced by  the  operation  of  the  same  laws,  as  the  move- 
ments of  the  planets.  In  the  most  distant  part  of 
their  orbit,  a  thousand  millions  of  miles,  perhaps, 
from  the  sun,  or  even  more,  these  wandering  stars 
move  very  slow,  and  in  the  arc  of  a  circle  almost  im- 
measurable, having  lost  their  charge  of  caloric,  and 
become  minus.  The  sun,  being  positive,  and  they 
deeply  negative,  it  begins  to  exert  an  attracting  influ- 
ence over  them.  As  that  attraction  increases,  con- 
tinually, in  proportion,  as  the  squares  of  the  distance 
decrease,  they  move  swifter  and  swifter,  until,  as  they 
approach  the  sun,  they  sometimes  fly  more  than  eight 
hundred  thousand  miles  an  hour.  At  their  perihelion, 
they  are  very  near  the  sun,  and  become  highly  posi- 
tive, as  they  revolve  half  round  in  its  intense  blaze, 
and  are  propelled  back  again  into  the  fields  of  space 
with  the  same  lightning  speed,  that  they  were  attract- 
ed towards  the  fountain  of  all  motion. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding 
series  of  lectures,  how  wonderful  is  the  subject  of 
electricity — how  various  and  how  magical  are  its 
agencies  !  It  streams  down  in  the  vivifying  rays  of 
the  sun — quickens  and  invigorates  the  sluggish  pul- 
sations of  nature — preserves  the  warmth  of  vitality — 
works  all  the  countless  myriads  of  chemical  changes — 


222  PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT  AND    HEAT. 

clothes  the  cheek  with  the  blush  of  health — spreads 
a  rich  carpet  of  green  over  the  landscape — dresses 
the  forest  in  its  foliage,  and  has,  no  doubt,  a  direct 
agency,  in  the  production  and  continuance  of  all  the 
forms  of  both  animal  and  vegetable  life. 

But  there  is  a  reverse  to  this  picture.  Not  always 
does  it,  in  the  exhibition  of  its  wondrous  phenomena, 
put  on  an  aspect  of  such  blandness  and  genial  benev- 
olence, wreathing  itself  in  sunny  smiles.  No !  Its 
countenance  sometimes  gathers  either  mysterious 
grandeur  or  terrific  fearfulness.  Sometimes  it  streams 
upward  from  the  poles,  in  splendid  corruscations,  and 
weaves  a  bright  coronal  of  lambent  light  at  the  zenith. 
Sometimes  it  exhibits  itself  in  the  effulgence  and  evan- 
escence of  the  meteor's  flash,  and  the  meteoric  show- 
er. Sometimes  it  leaps  out  from  the  dark  foldings  of 
the  stormcloud,  darts  downward  through  the  gleam- 
ing tempest,  and,  with  a  fearful  energy,  which  none 
else  but  God  can  wield,  blasts  everything  it  touches. 
Sometimes  it  flames  athwart  the  heavens,  in  the  trail 
of  the  comet,  as  it  speeds  its  erratic  and  lightning 
course,  and  makes  the  nations  pale  with  forebodings. 
Sometimes  it  assumes  the  port,  and  majesty  and  ter- 
ror of  the  burning  whirlwind — rushes  forth  upon  the 
red  wing  of  the  Syroc,  and  sweeps  with  desolation, 
the  hot  plains  of  Zahara.  Sometimes  it  musters  its 
almost  omnipotent  force  in  the  deep  caverns  of  the 
earth's  centre,  and  makes  the  earth  tremble  and  reel 
beneath  the  tramp  of  the  earthquake;  and  melts  rocks, 


PROPERTIES    OF    LIGHT    AND    HEAT. 


223 


and  pours  rivers  of  lava  from  the  crater's  mouth,  and 
hurls  enormous  masses  of  blazing  matter  above  the 
clouds,  and  upheaves  mountains  from  the  depths  of 
the  ocean  and  piles  them  in  the  sky.  Such  are  some 
of  the  wonderful  agencies  of  electiicity. 


'».    .  '    I 


^.' 


YA  02467 


